Tears of a Mew Mew
by waterwitch12
Summary: Kish shows up mysteriously one day, and sweeps Ichigo away to London... to the sight of a disaster! Ichigo's missing, the Mews are clueless, and Pai's expirements are at work. Will this be enough to rip Tokyo Mew Mew apart at the seams?
1. Chapter 1

The sun shone down brightly from the cloudless sky on the little park in Tokyo. A small breeze stirred the warm air, preventing the temperature from rising too high. Suddenly a stray leaf broke away from a tree's hold, creating a small shadow that passed lazily over the walkway, and found its way to a girl passing by. Making its home atop her red hair, it nestled between the two, ribbon-held ponytails.

Pausing for a slight moment, the girl reached up quickly to snatch the leaf from her hair. With large brown eyes she observed it, holding the tender leaf in her palm. As the breeze picked up, she held up her hand, allowing the leaf to fly away. Through her blowing bangs she could see it make its way to a familiar bench. Once again, it made its home.

A small smile rose to the girl's face, and she walked along the path the leaf had taken. As she approached the bench, she once again took the leaf into her hand. Dropping her school bag onto the ground, she slowly sank into the familiar position to wait, though she knew that no one would be coming.

It was out of habit that Ichigo came to rest on the park bench, though she knew painfully well that there would be no friendly greeting shouted at her for another week. His footsteps would not sound from the path, so she listened for the far-off calls of birds instead. She knew that she should feel pitiful, a girl so desperately waiting for her Aoyama-kun to return from England, but she couldn't bring herself to _not_ miss him.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she stared at the blank screen. No messages, no incoming calls. Even Masha was not there, shrunk down to the size of a charm. Ryou had taken him back to collect the data from the Mews last clash with the chimera anima. Attacks had begun to slow down recently, but the enemies were still the same. Despite any efforts by the aliens, Tokyo Mew Mew always claimed the victory. Ichigo knew that Kisshu would have to step up his game if anything was going to change about that fact.

With that thought escaping her mind, Ichigo basked in the warmth of the day for a few minutes, allowing the breeze to wash over her. Today was her day off, so she did not have to worry about any angry phone calls from Mint telling her to quit being lazy and hurry up. She could picture them all at the Café Mew Mew: Mint sipping her tea, Lettuce breaking something and apologizing profusely for it, just to turn around and spill something, Pudding rolling around on a giant rubber ball while spinning the plates with the customers' orders on them, and Zakuro being as rigid as ever, barely opening her mouth even to ask if she could take the customers orders.

She could picture the huge mess they would all have waiting for her tomorrow when she came in. Of course, she could always clean that mess up today. They would welcome her to work at the Café, and let her reschedule her day off for a day that Aoyama-kun was back in town.

That slight disappointment hit her once again. In her mind, she could picture Mint's smug look as she walked through the doors. Lettuce would have pity filling her eyes, and Pudding would bug her until Ichigo told her why she wanted to reschedule. Zakuro would say nothing, but would look at her knowingly.

It was ridiculous; she was the team's leader! She had to at least appear stronger when faced with the loneliness of not having her boyfriend around.

Standing up abruptly, the leaf she'd been holding fell to the ground. Slipping her cell into her pocket and grabbing her bag from the ground, she headed towards the woods. A blush of embarrassment had risen into her cheeks. The day was too nice to sit around moping.

As the red-haired girl stomped past, the leaf was once again picked up by the breeze. It floated away from the bench, dancing in the sunshine. The pair of golden eyes that had been watching the girl flicked to the leaf for a moment. Immediately the teen recognized it as the one that had fallen from the branch he propped himself up on. A small smile played on his lips as he once again turned to watch the girl disappear through the trees. After a moment, he disappeared as well.

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Computers were strange objects. The years and years that were poured into the making of updated systems created a never-ceasing flow of innovations. As complex as this made the machines of metal and wire, they could still be taken out with the simplest of kill codes. This was true even to the ones specifically designed so that people other than the owners of Café Mew Mew could not access them.

The green-haired teen thought about this, a bemused smile on his face, as he watched all the screens around him begin to scramble with random images. Pictures of DNA, animals, statistics, maps, and data all rolled across the screen in bright flashes. The entire memory of the massive system was taken in by the golden eyes in a matter of seconds. Then, everything went black.

As the pounding footsteps began to echo down the metal staircase, Kisshu's form began to distort. By the time the blond hair was visible making the sharp turn into the basement, the teen was gone.

"The hell!" came the aggravated cry of the man that had entered the room. His blue eyes were locked onto the blank computer screens. He had built and destroyed enough computers to know what had happened before even pressing any keys.

Though he knew it would be a futile effort, he bounded to the keyboard, and began to punch in various codes to try to bring any memory back from the system. He wanted the security footage from the room, and he wanted it now. Even without it, as each key was pressed, his mind quickly wrapped its way around what had just happened.

Cursing under his breath after a minute, all codes failing to bring the computer back to life. Quickly, he turned and began to run up the stairs. As he slid into the kitchen, he didn't even have time to open his mouth before the man at the counter posed a question:

"You had been saying something about them plotting, so is this what you were expecting?"

The man didn't even look up from the batter he was stirring. With the skill that takes years of practice, he added ingredients with one hand and whisked quickly with the other. His long brown hair was tied off with a ribbon, and a chef's hat was propped pristinely on his head. His usual smile had dropped; his eyes were calculating.

"Ichigo has her day off today; Masha's not with her. Her boyfriend's out of town, so she's alone." The facts rolled off of Ryou's tongue. His eyes were calculating as well.

"The café is full of people; we can't just close down. Zakuro just left for a photo shoot, so we're already short one server," Akasaka said, tapping the whisk on the side of the bowl. With his free hand he opened a drawer next to him, and pulled out a heart-shaped cake pan. As he poured the batter smoothly into the pan without spilling a drop, he asked, "What do you propose we do?"

A timer dinged, and Akasaka moved to open the oven. The scent of fresh vanilla wafted out into the kitchen along with the intense heat from the red hot wires. As the chef he took one cake out, he slipped the heart-shaped cake in, closing the door and cutting off the heat.

Ryou moved instinctively to clear a space on the counter for the hot pan. As he moved aside a ready bowl of icing, he laid out his plan:

"There is nothing more I can do with the server, so I'll take over for Zakuro. Mint and Lettuce will go out and search for Ichigo, and Pudding and I will handle things here until they get back."

"Go tell them quickly," Akasaka said, meeting Ryou's eyes for the first time since coming into the kitchen. His voice and face had concern leaking into them. "Let's hope the worst won't have time to happen."

But the worst had already begun.

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**To any new readers, I am in the process of rewriting Chapters 2-17 of this story right now. I will be uploading the chapters as I finish them, so please stick with me until I do. I'm rewriting the chapters because when I posted the original story in 2007, I didn't realize the complete lack of description and decent writing quality I was putting out there. Chapters 18-19 are my latest posts, so those have the writing style that I'm going to be applying to these next chapters.**

**I will take these messages down on the beginning chapters as I go along, so once this message is off of this chapter, then Chapter 2 has been rewritten. I hope that you'll continue reading my story! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo was cat-napping under one of the many trees in the forest. A small smile played on her lips as she slept peacefully. Ichigo had managed to find a tree that had a crook in it just big enough for her body. Anyone walking by wouldn't notice her the way that the tree enclosed around Ichigo. Then again, that meant that the tree was perfect for hiding a threat.

Kisshu watched Ichigo from above, hidden in the tree branches. His green hair blended perfectly with leaves. Just as nobody would notice Ichigo, nobody would notice him either.

Kisshu's golden eyes gazed down at the sleeping form. She lay there, lost in her own dreams, completely unaware of the danger. Though, Kisshu wasn't here to hurt Ichigo. Ever since the first day that they met, he'd been in love. Pai and Taruto, his fellow aliens, thought that it was foolish to fall in love with a human, especially since they were trying to wipe out mankind. But, Ichigo wasn't any old human, she was a Mew Mew, infused with the genes of an iriormote wild cat. That made her special.

Kisshu could've spent all day up there in that tree, watching his kitten sleep. The only thing was, he had a mission to accomplish. So, Kisshu snapped back to reality, and waited. Then, the time came.

Masha, a fuzzy, pink robot popped up next to Ichigo. It started to call out, "Alien, Ichigo, alien!" Ichigo started to stir in her sleep, a frown visible on her face.

"Huh… what?" she mumbled. That was Kisshu's cue. Jumping down from the tree branches, he landed directly next to Ichigo.

"Hello, kitten," Kisshu purred into Ichigo's ear. That was all it took to wake her up. Ichigo's eyes popped open, cat ears and tail came out, and she stared straight up into Kisshu's golden eyes. Time seemed to stand still as they gazed at each other, but then Ichigo snapped back to reality.

Jumping out of the crevice, she took a defensive position. Kisshu could tell that she was trying to figure out whether she should run, or fight him. He watched her knees bend, and he knew that she was going to run for. Skillfully, Kisshu reached out and grabbed Ichigo's hand just when she started to run.

"Why are you running away? I just want to tell you something," Kisshu said innocently. He could see the confusion in Ichigo's eyes. Usually there was some plot to him coming, and here he was just wanting to talk.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, caution in her voice. 'How cute,' Kisshu thought, 'she's keeping her guard up. That's so like her.'

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"That's so like her, getting into trouble," said Mint snottily as she and Lettuce walked through the park. Ryou had sent them on a mission, a special mission. Mint, of course, had gotten very serious about it. That is, until she heard that they had to go "baby-sit" Ichigo, because she might be in trouble. Trouble with who? Why, the aliens of course!

Growling under her breath, Mint had stomped out of the Café, Lettuce in tow. Now, they were searching for the "cat-girl".

"Why does Ichigo always get into trouble?" whined Mint to Lettuce. But, Lettuce continued to look for Ichigo. She stopped and peered into every bush, and up the trunk of every tree. Finally, she turned and faced Mint. Lettuce's eyes were clouded with worry, she truly wanted to make sure Ichigo was okay.

"I'm sure that it's not her fault," Lettuce said hurriedly, moving to the next bush, "I'm positive that she never intentionally gets into things like this."

Mint just sighed, and helped Lettuce look in the bushes, then up, yet another tree. Why did the aliens always have to be so bothersome? They're always coming at the worst times, and ruining everything! Then, a thought occurred to Mint.

So, she started to call out, "Ichigo! Ichigo! Where are you? Come out right now!" All the while, Lettuce kept on searching.

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	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo was standing in front of her enemy. She was completely aware that her cat ears were showing, but it didn't matter. All Ichigo had to do right now is figure out what Kisshu wanted. Usually, that consisted of a kiss. Though today, all he wanted to do was talk.

She was totally aware that Kisshu was staring at her. Ichigo bet he's amused at how confused she was right now.

Suddenly, Kisshu let his face go somber. Uh-oh. It's never a good sign when your enemy is sad. Well, only when you've won, but definitely when you haven't done anything.

"I'm afraid that I have some bad news," Kisshu started, still staring at Ichigo.

'This can't be good,' she thought.

"It deals with an incident that happened in London today. The tragedy occurred at "Big Ben", the clock-tower."

'Oh… no. That's where Aoyama-Kun was going today! He said so in a phone call earlier today! Oh, no.' Ichigo was completely shocked. Her mouth was agape, and it felt like she was going to be sick.

"Since I don't know how to tell you this, I'll have to show you," Kisshu finished. He was still staring at Ichigo. She knew, even though that she was looking at the ground. Ichigo could feel his golden eyes on her face.

She couldn't look at Kisshu though. All she could do, was remember the call that Aoyama-Kun has given her earlier today…

'Hey, Ichigo!'

'Oh, hey Aoyama-Kun! What are your plans today?'

'We're going to go to see Big Ben. You know, the giant clock?'

'That sounds awesome! Guess I'll talk to you tomorrow?'

'Sure thing, talk to you soon!'

The conversation had been so short, so simple. But, it was a short talk that could've been the last time that Ichigo had heard Aoyama-Kun's voice.

Wait a second though, he could've _not_ been in the accident! Ichigo's heart surged with hope. There could be a chance that Aoyama-Kun was still okay! Anything's possible, Ichigo had learned that from being a Mew Mew.

So, she dared look up into Kisshu's eyes. They showed no emotion, nothing that could give away to Ichigo what he was thinking. There was no way that she would know the truth, until he showed her.

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Ryou held his head in his hands for the brief few moments that he had to himself. It didn't take but a second before someone called out, "Can we please have some napkins over here? My tea just spilled."

Sighing, Ryou shuffled over and handed the customer some napkins. Now he knew why Ichigo was so tired at the end of each day, this job was a pain. Another second went by, and some people called out to have their orders taken. Walking quickly through the tables, Ryou collected the orders for two mint teas, one strawberry parfait, and a cup of vanilla pudding.

All the while, his thoughts kept drifting to Lettuce, Mint, and, of course, Ichigo. They'd been gone for awhile, and he still needed to reboot the computers. Everyone had forgotten that Zakuro had to duck out of work early so she could go to a photo shoot. That left only Ryou and Pudding to be the waiter/waitresses. The soonest he could get the computers back up now, would be when Mint, Lettuce, and hopefully Ichigo came back to Café Mew Mew.

As Pudding rolled pass on a giant rubber ball, carrying four trays full of food, the ball hit the edge of one of the tables. That sent Pudding, and the food, toppling off of the ball, and right on top of Ryou.

"I sure hope that Ichigo's having fun," Ryou said through gritted teeth as cherry pie a la mode dripped down his face. He was lying on the floor, with Pudding lying on top of his lap, belly down. She was smiling and laughing as the remains of tarts, scones, and pastries lay around them on the floor.

"I'm sure that Ichigo-oneechan is headed back here right now with Mint and Lettuce, na no da," Pudding said cheerily, peeling herself off of Ryou. She brushed the pastries off of herself, and skipped into the back room to get a mop.

"Uh, I think that we should go," whispered one customer to another.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," said the other.

"Let's go too. I'm pretty sure that they're not going to have our orders anytime soon," stated a customer close to Ryou to her friends.

Soon, people were filing out of the Café. Ryou stood there, shocked at first at how a complete accident did exactly what he wanted to happen. The customers were leaving, so that meant that they could close up. When they closed up, that would give Ryou the time he needed to reboot the computer system.

Pudding came back smiling with the mop, but her eyes got wide when she saw all the customers leaving. She looked at Ryou and asked, "Did Pudding's performance scare them away?" Then, Pudding got tears in her eyes and exclaimed to Ryou, "Pudding is sorry Ryou! Pudding didn't mean to scare away all of the customers!"

"Pudding, Pudding! Calm down!" Ryou practically shouted so Pudding could hear him over her exclamations of 'I'm sorry'. "The customers' leaving is a good thing! I need to reboot the computer so we can find Ichigo! Don't you want to find her?"

That was all it took to make Pudding break out in a giant smile. She said, "Of course Pudding wants to find oneesama! Pudding will clean up, and close the store so you can find Ichigo!"

With that, Pudding skipped off to clean up. If Ryou didn't know her so well, he'd think that she was crazy. Shrugging, Ryou walked towards the basement, only briefly stopping in the kitchen to tell Shirogane what was going on. And with that, Ryou headed off to fix the computer system. The sooner they found Ichigo, the better.

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"Mew Mew Strawberry, METOMORPHOSIS!" Ichigo called out to the sky as she transformed.

Her school uniform was replaced with a poofy, pink dress. Shoes turned into lace-up boots, and red hair turned hot pink. The last part of her transformation was when she grew black cat ears and a tail. Though, that was unnecessary because they were still out from when Kisshu scared her awake.

Him being around made her nervous. Which, of course, activated her wildcat genes. Thus ending up in her cat ears not going away.

When Ichigo was done transforming, she stood in front of Kisshu. He didn't smile, or do anything really. All he did was stare at her, until he finally asked, "Are you ready?"

Ichigo just nodded.

"Are you sure?" Kisshu questioned, folding his arms across his chest, "You might not like what there is to see."

Ichigo just nodded again. She was a Mew Mew, built to take on the unthinkable. What Kisshu had to show her couldn't be good, but she had to see. Ichigo was ready.

Kisshu took hold of her hand, which made Ichigo blush furiously. Still, she didn't pull away. No sooner did he take her hand, than the air around the two started to shimmer. Scared, Ichigo huddled in closer to Kisshu. They were teleporting, off to England they went.

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	4. Chapter 4

"Lettuce, Mint," came a voice through Mint's transformation pendant, "it's Ryou. I've been able to reboot the computer system. Ichigo's just ahead, go quickly, someone's with her!"

"Hai," Mint and Lettuce shouted as they sprinted.

"I wonder who's with Ichigo," Lettuce called to Mint as they ran faster and faster.

"We'll see when we get there," Mint called back as she and Lettuce rounded a corner. Just as they turned, they heard someone shout, "Mew Mew Strawberry, METOMORPHOSIS!"

"It's Ichigo!" Lettuce yelled to Mint as she was blinded by a flash of pink light. Squinting, she and Mint tried to see who was with her. The light was too bright though, and all they could see was the person's silhouette.

When the light receded, Mew Ichigo was standing next to Kish.

"Could she be defending herself?" Lettuce asked Mint as they continued running.

"I'm not sure," Mint said truthfully, "It doesn't look like they're going to fight, though."

Sure enough, Kish took Ichigo's hand. This made Mint and Lettuce gasp, and only quicken their pace. They had to get to Ichigo before anything happened.

"Ichigo," Mint called out desperately, "Ichigo!"

"Ichigo-san, Ichigo-san," Lettuce yelled desperately.

Ichigo appeared not to hear them, as the air around the couple began to shimmer. The Mew huddled closer to Kisshu as Mint called out one last time, "Ichigo!"

In the next minute, they were gone.

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Ichigo's stomach leapt into her throat as she was transported. 'This is scary,' she thought, and huddled closer to Kish. 'It feels like… like I've been turned into nothingness.'

Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, so she couldn't see what was happening around her. She didn't want to see. This was too scary. 'I know, I'm a wuss,' Ichigo thought to herself as she held tightly to Kish, 'but it's not everyday that you turn into nothingness, and transport from Tokyo to London.'

It wasn't just the trip that made Ichigo scared, it was Kish too. Being around him made her feel uneasy, and being this close to him, it just wasn't normal.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Her stomach went back to normal, and Ichigo felt normal too. As normal as you could get when you're genetically combined with an endangered species, that is.

"We're here," Kish said. He almost sounded… sad. No, was it regret?

Bracing herself, Ichigo opened her eyes. "Oh, no," she gasped, "This is a nightmare."

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"Ichigo's in big trouble when she gets back," Ryou growled, grinding his teeth. Mint and Lettuce had just returned to Café Mew Mew with the story of a lifetime. "I don't know what possessed that girl to go off with an alien, but Ichigo's going to be living a nightmare when she gets back."

Lettuce, Mint, Pudding, and Shirogane just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

After a long silence, Lettuce spoke up, "Maybe there's a good reason Ichigo went with Kish." Immediately, all eyes were on her. She gulped nervously, and then stuttered, "T-there could be a g-good reason, r-right?"

"Whatever the reason, I'm not sure what it is right now," Ryou groaned. "Why would she do something this stupid!?" he demanded, "I know she's done stupid things before but this…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone, it's waterwitch12! This is my first comments block, but first I'd like to say that I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, I'm only a fan. Okay then, enjoy the chapter!**

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"Why?" Ichigo whispered as her knees collapsed, "Why?" She sat there on her knees, eyes wide, as she stared at the disaster before her. "Why?"

The clock tower, Big Ben, had collapsed. Its rustic beams had snapped, and the entire tower had fallen in on itself. Rubble lined the streets, cars popping out of the debris here and there. Everything, absolutely everything, was covered in a fine dust. Sirens sounded lights flashed, but Ichigo didn't pay any attention to that. One lone thing above all else had her eyes locked.

"Why?" she repeated. Kisshu put his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't feel it. He called out her name, but she didn't hear it. All Ichigo could do was stare, and stare.

"Why?" she asked desperately one more time, as her eyes rolled back into her head. Ichigo fainted into Kisshu's arms, and he solemnly brought out a syringe.

"This is why," Kisshu said as he let the needle dig into her upper arm, and pressed down. A green liquid escaped into Ichigo's bloodstream, but she didn't realize it because she had her mind closed, and she was only thinking, 'Why?'

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**Sorry, it's a short chapter, but I'm not sure what's going to happen next. I wonder what Ichigo saw that made her faint? You'll find out soon enough! Till next time, read and review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Before I start with the chapter, I'd like to thank people for their nice comments!**

**black anime fan****: I didn't mean to try and make you cry, I'm sorry!**

**storyteller1333****: Thanks!**

**Moonlit-Kris****: I'm glad that I can keep everyone in character, that's a goal that I aim for! Good idea for what happened, but I had something else already planned. (sorry)**

**RabuRabu****: Thanks SO much for pointing out my mistake. Yes, I did mean for it to be Keiichiro. Thanks!**

**Okay then, on with the chapter! (Oh, and I don't own TMM.)**

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People on the train had started to take interest in three strange girls. Critical eyes stared down on them as they sat on the sticky, rubber seats. A green-haired one had an ocean photo book propped up on her lap, and the fancily dressed girl stuck up her nose, and stared out at the scenery. The last one, no older than an elementary-schooler, didn't stop moving, jabbering about in Japanese. What interested people the most about them were that they weren't on the train, and then they were, like they'd materialized there in an instant. Soon, people just realized it was better to just ignore them since they couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Lettuce, Mint, Pudding," came an electronic, but still familiar voice, "are you on the train, did you transport there okay?"

"Hai," everyone called in union into their pendants. Ryou had used a bit of high-jacked alien material to get them onto a moving train.

"Pudding wants to know what exactly Mint- and Lettuce-oneechan and Pudding are supposed to look out for," Pudding called excitedly into her pendant. This was her first trip, as well as Lettuce's, out of Japan, so she was shaking with enthusiasm.

"Look out for any sign of Ichigo and Kisshu," Ryou ordered through the girls' pendants, "I got a reading of them in downtown London before the computers had another meltdown. I'm not sure what that alien did to this computer, but it's aborting anything that I try. I won't be able to tell you what's coming your way, so be on the lookout."

"Hai," everyone called again.

"Pudding has another question!" Pudding shouted into her pendant, most likely resulting in Ryou busting his eardrums. "Why couldn't you just put us where Ichigo is?"

"Because, Pudding," Ryou said through gritted teeth, "as I've explained to you twice already, I only got a weak signal of where she was before the computers shut off again. Since I couldn't exactly pin-point where she was, or what was around her, it was easier to just put you on a train."

"Okay, na no da!" Pudding yelled excitedly.

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**2 long hours later with much confusion since not one of the three girls can speak English. **

"Okay, we're here," Mint said officially into her pendant, speaking to Ryou. It had been a long, long day so far, not being able to speak English can be a pain, especially when you need directions.

"Something's going on," Lettuce said, looking around the crowded city street, "people seem very… on edge. Sirens keep going off… I really wish we knew what's happening."

"Look, look," Pudding exclaimed, pointing at a person making there way through a parting crowd

It was a woman, covered in dust, with a cut in her forehead that oozed blood. The person kept shouting something, but the people on the streets just stared, and moved on with their business.

"Pudding thinks that woman needs help," Pudding said, stating the obvious.

The woman was in a frenzy now, going up to different people and shouting. Each person she chose out of the crowd just shrugged, and moved on. Some tried to calm her down and lead her away, but they must've said something she didn't like, so she pulled away, and went to another person. Soon it came to the point where she stopped in front of Lettuce, and started to shout. It sounded like she was begging, and up-close the girls could see tears running down her cheeks, leaving a trail in the dust.

"We d-don't speak English," Lettuce stuttered, not sure what to do. The woman just reached out and tugged on her arm. She kept gesturing in down the street, and before Lettuce could respond, an ambulance came up the road from that direction.

"What's going on?!" Ryou demanded, obviously hearing the woman's shouts.

"There's a woman here, we think she needs help, and she keeps saying something but we don't speak English," Mint said hurriedly.

There was a moments pause before Ryou ordered, "Hold up this pendant to the woman. Don't let her take it, but make sure she listens."

Mint did what she was told, and Ryou started to speak. He spoke to the woman in English, and despite all the noise she was making the woman still managed to hear what Ryou said, because she started to speak directly at the pendant. For a couple minutes Ryou and the woman spoke back and forth. It was all gibberish Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding, but Ryou soon started to speak to them in Japanese.

"Her name is Aubrie, and she needs help," Ryou stated, "Apparently there was an incident at the clock tower Big Ben, and the entire thing collapsed. She claims that a man who saved her is stuck underneath the rubble, and she would like to return the favor. Aubrie was panicking because the authorities wouldn't listen to her, and she's afraid that the man might be seriously injured. I told her that you'd go with her and help out all you can. Only use your Mew powers if necessary. I'll be listening in for any translations that you need. Got it?"

"Hai," Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding said together. Then, they all stared at the Aubrie, and nodded. She obviously took this as 'Okay, we're ready,' because she grabbed onto Lettuce's hand, and bolted. Mint and Pudding ran to keep up, while Lettuce was trying to keep pace while being dragged along.

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**Sorry, this is all I have for now. It might take me some time to put up the next chapter, but I'll try my best. If I'm lucky, I could have the next chapter written and posted before the end of tomorrow! Thanks for reading this far, see you in the next chapter! Until then, read and review:D **


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm sorry! It's been almost two weeks, and I haven't had any time to write, so I'm sorry (again). Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it.**

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Flashing lights, a dust-covered street, rubble, and police tape all made the scene even worse than it already was. People were being hauled away on stretchers, all with various injuries, all of them splotched with blood. It was the most terrible sight you would ever see, but the woman didn't seem fazed by it. She had an 'I know it's terrible, but you need to help me' look on her face.

Jumping over the "Caution" tape, the woman led Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding towards the rubble. Before they could make it towards the giant mound, two police officers grabbed their hands. One grabbed Lettuce's and Aubrie's hands, the other one grabbed Mint's and Pudding's.

"Let go of me," Mint demanded as the other three fought to break free. The officer's just looked at her strangely, and started to point towards the ambulances. "No, I don't need help, just let me go!" Again, the police officers didn't understand her and started to pull them towards medical help.

"LET… GO… OF… ME!" Mint exploded. Out of anger, she kicked the policeman in the shin. Immediately, he let go of her and Pudding to cradle his hurt leg. Following Mint's lead, Aubrie kicked the policeman, but aimed for a more sensitive spot. The policeman crumpled to his knees, and dropped Lettuce's and Aubrie's hands.

Lettuce, Pudding, and Mint were shocked. "Y-you didn't have to k-kick him there," Lettuce managed to make out, in shock. Aubrie, not understanding, just started to run again, leading the Mews into a huge pile of rubble.

Lettuce tripped and fell on her face several times, and more rubble always rained down from a higher piece of debris when one of them made a wrong footing. No matter what happened to them, even when a still-standing wall collapsed on top of Pudding, Aubrie just kept leading them deeper into the mass.

It was a whole different world inside the remains of Big Ben. Pieces of stone and plaster gave way underneath their feet as they clambered through the disaster.

Some framework that still stood tall scraped against the sky, while others, bent and broken, desperately reached up. It was a site that tore at everyone's hearts, and the only thing that made it better was that all the people had cleared out. Or at least that's what they thought.

Their guide stopped suddenly, and stared down wide-eyed. Looking past her shoulders, the Mews saw that they'd come to a deep hole in the middle of the tower. She said something, but they didn't understand what she said, and it didn't seem like Ryou had heard her to translate.

Taking a closer look, Pudding ran out to be beside Aubrie. The crater went down about 5 feet, and looked pretty much like the rest of what they'd seen. What was different, though, was what lay crooked in the middle of everything. Age-old numbers etched in black graced its surface, and both hands still clung onto the clock face, clearly stating the time the world had come crashing down.

Pudding screamed and pointed. Coming to stand next to her, Mint and Lettuce gasped in horror. Halfway covered with the clock face there was a man that was spread out on the red-spotted ground. Matted blonde hair concealed his face while his blue uniform lay tattered against his body; a shining silver sword was limply clutched in his hand.

"_This is where my world came crashing down."_

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**Well, this chapter answered a question or two. **

**Next time, I'll start out with Ichigo and Kish! Wonder what happened with them..? **

'**Till then, read and review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yet, again, I'm sorry. I've had no time to write, and I bet I ticked some of you guys off… Sorry!!!**

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Beep… beep… beep… beep… The constant beeping of the heart-rate machine was all that could be heard in the room. Beep… beep… beep… beep…

Kish, Pai, and Tart stood around the bed, looking down at Ichigo. She was still in her Mew form, pink dress wrinkled. Wires attached to her temple, chest, and arms were sending data into several machines crowed around her.

"When should the serum take effect?" Kish questioned, glancing at Pai.

"Within the next six hours."

Beep… beep… beep…

"What's the point of all this anyway?" Tart asked. "We gave her a serum when she collapsed, so what?"

"It's not really that we gave her the serum, it's more of _when_ we gave her the serum. She just didn't collapse, she collapsed from shock. That's the key," Pai answered.

"I still don't get it."

"You don't need to get it," Kish stated, "All you need to do is make sure she stays in this state until her heart-rate doubles, understand?" With that, Kish transported himself out of the room.

"Where's he going?"

"To lead the Mews off our trail."

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"Higher, push it higher!" Mint screamed, tears running down her face. Lettuce and Aubrie pushed desperately at the clock face, trying to get it off of the Blue Knight, they were also crying. Pudding was bawling underneath them, trying to get Aoyama to respond in any way, shape, or form. Nothing.

"Keep pushing, please, keep pushing!" Mint shouted hysterically. Tears ran down everyone's faces as they sobbed. As far as they could tell, the Blue Knight was dead. The Blue Knight, the same person that had saved them countless times. The Blue Knight, the person that had saved Aubrie from the falling clock face, Ryou had translated. The Blue Knight, the person that sacrificed himself for someone _he didn't even know._

Somewhere, not too far above this heart-wrenching scene, the air rippled. Kish appeared out of the grey sky, and looked down on the three Mews.

"They shouldn't be seeing this, only Ichigo should've seen this. If I wanted them all to see this, I would've taken them all here," he stated.

Flying down to get a closer look, he observed that they were all crying, and they had someone with them who wasn't a Mew. Kish saw Mint wipe her eyes, and glance up in his direction. A mask of shock covered her tear-stained face, and she shouted out to the others to look.

"MURDERER!" Mint screamed.

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**Ooh, the story's heating up. I actually pity the characters, because I made them go through this. Poor Mews and Aubrie…**

'**Till next time, read and review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter for everybody!**

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The sound of that one word echoed several times before it was quiet again. Kish stared at Mint, her face red and blotchy, a finger pointed in his direction. He was shocked, completely and utterly shocked as the word repeated over and over in his mind.

_Murderer…_

"What did you do with Ichigo, Kish!? Did you kill her!?" Mint questioned in a fierce voice. "Did you kill her too!?" She started to cry again, unable to bear the thought of his answer.

_Murderer…_

Lettuce stared straight ahead, looking through Kish, lost in her own thoughts. Pudding sat down near the Blue Knight, staring, just like Lettuce, unblinkingly. Aubrie was the only one who made a move. She left her edge of the clock face, which hadn't moved despite their previous efforts, and ran closer to Kish. Crumbled walls and wooden beams crumbled underneath her weight, making it difficult for her to move forward, but she kept going until she was so close to Kish she was almost underneath him.

Aubrie stared… and stared… and stared. To her, there was something familiar about this figure with the green hair, golden eyes, and midriff revealing clothing. Suddenly, she gave a shout that awakened the Mews from their startled positions. Her eyes widened, and she started to jump up and down, yelling something to them. Aubrie kept gesturing from Kish, to Aoyama, and then back to Kish. The Mews just gave her puzzled looks, what was she talking about?

Understanding that she was getting nowhere, Aubrie sprinted over to Mint. She reached into the Mew's pocket, and pulled out her oval-shaped pendant. After sharing some quick words with Ryou, Aubrie forced the pendant back into Mint's hand.

"Mint, are you there? Mint?" Ryou called calmly through the pendant's speaker.

Composing herself, Mint responded, voice cracking slightly, "Hai."

"According to Aubrie, Kish, or as she calls him, the green-and-yellow guy, was fighting with the Blue Knight when the tower collapsed. She said she saw the fight outside the tower when she was walking by."

The Mews looked at Aubrie, gesturing rapidly to the two guys, and understood immediately.

_MURDERER…_

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**Sorry, it's a short chapter, but I'll have the next one up soon!**

**To tell you the truth, I'm not that big of an Aoyama fan. He just seems too perfect! Even if he is this big, bad evil guy, he's **_**way**_** too perfect!**

**Though, I do think Ichigo and Kish are cute together… 3**

'**Till next time, read and review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**About the whole, "Shirogone is actually Akasaka, you should change it," thing, I'm working on it. My computer's being dumb, though, so bear with me while I try to fix it. As soon as I can, I will. Promise!**

**Okay, then, here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

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Beep… beep… beep… beep…

Tart floated above the bed where the pink Mew laid. Nothing had changed and nothing seemed like it was going to change. The only sounds in the room were the constant beeping of the heart-rate monitor, and the Mew's breaths. It was a constant, never ending pattern.

Beep… breathe in… beep… breathe out… beep…

Without even realizing it, Tart had started to breathe in sync with Ichigo.

Beep… breathe in… beep… breathe out… be-

"Argh!" Tart shouted in frustration after awhile, "when's something going to happen!?"

Beep… breathe in… beep… breath out… beep… breathe i-

Suddenly, Ichigo's breaths started to quicken. Perking up his ears, Tart heard the Mew's breathing pick up. Soon, the heart monitor was keeping the pace with her breaths.

Beep.. breathe.. beep.. breathe.. beep

Not long after, the time between the two sounds shortened again.

Beep. Breathe. Beep. Breathe. Beep. Breathe.

Tart immediately transported out of the room to where he knew Pai would be.

"It's happening," Tart exclaimed excitedly.

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"You're going to pay for what you've done Kish!" Mint shouted, pulling out her pendant. A blue glow surrounded her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw green and yellow flashes. When the lights subsided, three fully-clad Mew Mews were ready for battle. And boy, were they ticked.

"What did you do to Ichigo oneechan, na no da?" Pudding demanded in a hard voice. Her glare was icy cold, and would freeze anyone who dared meet it.

"Where's Ichigo-san," Lettuce questioned, and evil side of her starting to show. She hadn't been like this since her first meeting with Mint and Ichigo in their Mew-forms at her school's pool. Lettuce felt power build up with in her, and she brought out her castanets, prepared for anything.

Kish delivered them a small smile, "Do you think you have a chance? What about your friend there, is she going to fight me too?"

There was a stunned silence. None of the Mews realized what they'd done, and now all eyes were on Aubrie. As it turns out, Aubrie was just as stunned as the Mews, only for a different reason. Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, and Kish all watched as her eyes rolled back into her head. Aubrie fell down with a crash, and nobody moved.

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Ryou took a short break from fixing the computers, and took a walk outside. He fanned himself lightly with his hand, because the afternoon was hot. Still, it was cooler than being down in the stuffy basement.

After 5 minutes, he decided it was time to go back inside. Ryou couldn't leave Akasaka in there handling the situation by himself. You never knew when the Mews were going to need him. Stretching out his arms, he soaked up a little bit more sunshine before turning around. A flash of red made him turn his head.

A couple feet away, asleep unconscious against one of the trees, clad in her school uniform, was Ichigo.

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**Ooh, I wonder how Ichigo got there? Also, what's going to happen to the other Mews, away in London? Read the next chapter to find out! **

**Sorry, I know, I'm evil for leaving a cliffhanger.**

'**Till next time, read and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the long wait everybody! I didn't realize how long it's been until I read my reviews one day, and saw how long I haven't been on. Actually, this chapter had been my project for the past to weeks, and as a treat, I made this chapter longer! (Hopefully, but I'm positive it's longer than usual.) Now, here's chapter 11 of "Tears of a Mew Mew". Enjoy!**

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Yawning, Ichigo stretched out on the on the white sheets in slight bliss. What a nice nap she'd had, and this bed was so comfy… Wait a minute, bed? She could feel the soft mattress on her back, and immediately her eyes popped open.

She was dressed in a stark-white hospital gown, making her blend in with the linens. An IV needle poked into her arm, the tube leading to a dripping bag suspended on a pole. Pillows stacked behind her head propped her up, and she could see across the room.

Ryou sat dozing in a chair opposite of her bed, head leaning up against the wall. Blotches of red covered him, and there were also some marks of orange and white. They were in his hair, on his clothes, practically everywhere! He could tell her what happened after he explained why she was in the hospital.

Without really considering the consequences, Ichigo shouted, "RYOU, WAKE UP!"

The blonde was up and out of his chair in less than a second. Panic showed on his face, like he was being attacked. When he realized Ichigo was the only possible "threat", sitting up in her hospital bed and staring at him like she was very pleased with herself, he composed himself. Then, he walked over next to her, and took her chin in his hand. He could feel her face heat up, but she flushed even more when he simply said, "Idiot."

"For your information," Ichigo said, pushing away Ryou's hand, "I don't even know why I'm in here, so don't start blaming it on me."

"Yet," Ryou finished simply.

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Kish was the first to strike, which honestly wasn't that surprising. He swooped down from his spot in the sky and grabbed Aubrie's limp body off of the ground. Then he perched himself on top of the crooked clock face, one of his dual swords pointed at the woman's throat.

"If any of you make a sudden movement," Kish said with a smile, "your little friend here will be no more."

The Mews tensed, but there was nothing they could do. Aubrie was as good as dead unless they could figure something out, and figure it out quick. There was always the option of striking, but Kish would be too quick and stab Aubrie. They could always scatter, and come up from behind, but Kish could teleport anywhere he wanted. Maybe they could-

CRASH! Kish, Mint, and Pudding all turned their heads toward Lettuce. Mint and Pudding gasped, but didn't dare move out of their spots for Aubrie's sake. Kish just seemed to smile to himself, as if he won the jackpot.

Lettuce had collapsed into a heap on the rubble-covered ground. Her mouth lolled open a little bit, and the dust kicked up from her fall settled down on her. Pudding's eyes were frantic, debating between the sake of her friend or a stranger. Mint seemed to be debating the exact same thing, but Kish beat them to it.

The alien teleported in front of Lettuce, and dropped Aubrie to pick the Mew up. "Looks like it's my lucky day," he chuckled to himself, "two Mews down, and only three to go."

Three things happened at once, Mint and Pudding shot their attacks at the same time, and Aubrie woke up. The thing that surprised everyone the most was Lettuce, who woke up from her fake faint and attacked Kish just as he tried to teleport away.

Kish flew backwards, and landed in a pile of rubble, some of it collapsing on him as he sunk in deep. All the Mews launched themselves into action, and followed in pursuit of the alien as he burst his way out of the pile, and flew in a circle above it, cradling his arm. A large mark was scratched into his arm and started oozing red.

"Hurt or not," Kish mumbled, "I still have a job to do."

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"Test number thirteen, blood analysis," Akasaka announced, typing in a few numbers on his keyboard, and then pushing enter.

Ichigo sighed as the next light show flashed in front of her eyes and lasers ran over her skin, scanning her body. She'd been standing inside a plastic tube for almost and hour as Ryou ran his stupid tests. Though, they weren't really that stupid. All Ichigo could remember was transporting with Kish somewhere, and that was it. She couldn't even remember where she was going, what she was doing with him, nothing! Then all of a sudden, she wakes up in the hospital, and Ryou telling her he needed to know everything that happened! Not a very good day at all.

The Pink Mew shifted her position slightly, to relieve her stiff muscles, only to get a, "Please hold still," from Akasaka.

After five or so minutes, the light show ended. She then beat on the side of the tube, and said tiredly, "Let me out."

"We can't do that until we're sure that the aliens did absolutely nothing to you. Either that, or you remember," Ryou told her from the other side of the room. He was desperately fighting with the computers, which somehow fried his connection to Lettuce, Mint, and Pudding. The last thing he knew that had happened to them was that they ran into Kish, but Ichigo didn't know about that yet, he didn't want to make her think that she should go off to London to fight.

"I can't remember when I'm so tired like this!" Ichigo shouted in frustration, beating the side of the tube.

"You slept for two hours, and was asleep when I found you, how can you be tired?"

Ichigo slammed her fist against the plastic one last time be collapsing onto her knees in defeat. She was so tired…

"Test number fourteen, mutation analysis," Akasaka said, "Don't worry about standing up Ichigo," he said kindly as she started to pick herself up, "you can sit down for this one."

Ichigo smiled gratefully at him as she closed her eyes and drifted off into dreamland.

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**Ooh, "dreamland"? I whiff a memory coming up there! What's going to happen to the Mews, and what might Ryou and Akasaka find inside Ichigo? Tune in eventually for another epic adventure from, "Tears of a Mew Mew"!**

**Sorry, I had some sugar today, but seriously, I wonder what'll happen? Well, wherever my mind leads me! 'Till next time, read and review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Honestly, I never realized how long I've kept you guys in the dark. Seven chapters is a long time to guess, and I'm really sorry! Here's the answer to most of your questions, but not all. I've gotta keep some mystery behind it all. Here's chapter 12 of "Tears of a Mew Mew". Enjoy!**

--

No light could pierce through the darkness that surrounded Ichigo. She'd been completely swallowed by the darkness from the moment she closed her eyes. Faintly, the sound of beeping shattered the darkness like a mirror, and Ichigo shielded herself from the falling fragments of black. When she put down her arms, the Mew saw that she was standing in a hospital-like room.

"When should the serum take affect?" Kish's voice asked, immediately drawing her attention.

Kish, Tart, and Pai were floating around a small bed. Ichigo saw something pink lying on the bed, but it took her a minute to realize that it was her. She gasped and huddled closer to get a look, but stayed far enough back so the aliens couldn't see her.

"Within the next six hours," Pai answered.

Suddenly, the aliens turned around to face her, smirks plastered on their faces.

"Did you hear that, old lady?" Tart laughed, "Your time's about up."

"Goodbye, Kitten," Kish said, and took out a syringe, transporting behind Ichigo. He grabbed her arm and dug the needle in before she could react. Ichigo screamed, and everything turned black. Darkness swallowed her again, and this time there was no way out.

--

"Ichigo! Ichigo, wake up!" Ryou shouted, beating against the side of the tube. "Keiichiro, can't you do something!?"

"I'm trying, Ryou, but whatever virus was inside the computers spread into the machine!" Akasaka cried, desperately typing in abortion codes. Everything had been going fine, it really had until Ichigo's heart-rate had spiked. When they tried to get her out of the tube, the entire system fried and she was stuck in there. Something was happening, and Akasaka had a theory that it had something to do with the aliens.

"Ichigo, wake up!" Ryou shouted, beating against the tube. "Wake up or I'll break into this tube and make you!"

It was at that moment that Ichigo half-way opened her eyes, staring blankly at Ryou.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Ryou asked immediately. Ichigo just slowly blinked her eyes, and stood up. "Ichigo, are yo-" Ryou broke off, and watched as Ichigo pulled out her pendant. "Keiichiro, get away from the tube!"

Ryou and Akasaka dived to the side, avoiding the explosion that came from within the tube. The smell of molten plastic stung their noses, as they looked up through the smoke, searching for any signs of Ichigo. Before the smoke could clear, Ryou heard slow, defined footsteps coming towards him and Akasaka. Appearing out of the smoke like an Angel of Darkness stood Ichigo, in her Mew form, only something was different this time…

Ichigo's black eyes turned towards Ryou, and made him freeze in his place.

"Strawberry bell," she said in a monotone voice, extending her arm. A black swirl extended from the crook in her arm, where a blood red dot showed the place where the syringe had met skin.

Ryou gasped, and immediately his mind was kick-started into formulating a plan. Nothing could come to him before he had to dive to the side to avoid Ichigo's attack. This was beyond what he expected what would've happened. All he thought was that the aliens poisoned her!

"Ribbon Strawberry Check," Ichigo said in the same monotone voice, without shouting as she usually did. Ryou couldn't see her from where he was, the smoke burned his eyes and halted his vision. Still, he dived to the side to avoid what was pointed at him… only it wasn't pointed at him.

"AGH!" Ryou heard Akasaka cry out from across the room. This was going from bad, to worse every second. The hourglass had been turned upside down, and Ryou had a small amount of sand left before Ichigo found him too.

--

Kish was transported away from the battle scene before he could blink. Almost immediately he was standing inside the familiar testing area. He peered around until his eyes locked on Pai typing away at the computer.

"Your job has been switched," Pai said without turning his attention away from the screen.

"Is it time for me to pick my Kitten up?" Kish asked with a small smile, making his dual swords disappear.

"Give it a few more minutes and she'll have the humans wiped out," Pai answered, "Until then, fix your cut, you need to be in top condition for this assignment."

Kish just shook his head and wondered how Pai could know things without even seeing them. Still, he'd gotten pretty much used to it. Quickly he transported their small infirmary to do a fast bandage-and-ointment job. Satisfied with his work, Kish nodded his head and smiled.

"Here I come," he grinned, and was gone instantly. There was no need to miss the fun.

--

**Hope that gave you some answers, or did I just give you more questions? I hope both really! 'Till next time, read and review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry, yet again I've left my readers to their questions for so long. To not leave you in suspense for much longer, here's Chapter 13 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

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Step. Step. Step. Step.

Ryou froze as he heard the last footstep echo across the room. He didn't move, he didn't breathe. Seconds seemed like minutes as Ryou tensed his muscles, preparing to run.

Step. Step. Step. Step…

The scientist let out his breath slowly as he heard the footsteps moving away from his position. Quietly, he took small, creeping footsteps along the wall of the lab. Ryou's idle mind drifted to Akasaka, and wondered if he was okay… or even if he was alive. Shaking his head, Ryou knew that it would take Ichigo more than one attack to kill someone, she'd only used the "Check" after all. Without the other Mews lending her power, it would take a lot to permanently damage someone. There was the possibility that Akasaka had picked himself up, and was doing what Ryou was right now, going towards the stairs.

… Step. Step. Step.

Ryou froze again, gently pressed his body against the wall. Slowly turning his head from side to side, he tried to spot the faintest sign of pink. Thick smoke still hung in the air of the lab, because he'd left the door to the basement shut. Luckily this provided cover for Ryou, but it also meant he couldn't see Ichigo. It was a no-win situation.

"Ribbon Strawberry Check," a monotone voice said a few feet away from Ryou.

The attack grazed against the metal wall, where Ryou's head had just been. Meanwhile, Ryou was running at top speed towards the door. Why had he been so stupid and let her get that close to him!? He'd been so worried about Akasaka, that he'd almost let the enemy win!

"Ribbon Strawberry Check."

A pink light slammed into the wall, an inch in front of Ryou's face. Intense heat burned his face, and he flew back several feet from the aftershock of the attack. He was on his feet immediately, hand idly rubbing his partially-burnt face. Ichigo's attacks had never been that strong before.

"Ribbon Strawberry Check."

Four paws hit the ground running not even a second after the attack grazed the lab's wall. The small gray cat was making an attempt to cover the final ground between him and the stairs.

Ryou's head felt slightly dizzy, because the transformation into Alto had been sudden. This didn't distract him, though, as he concentrated on making it to the stairs before Ichigo. Ryou could hear the running footsteps of the Mew as she gained ground quickly. Still, he would make it to the stairs before her, because the stairs would be right-

"Here kitty-kitty."

Ryou slid to a stop when, through the smoke, he saw Kish blocking the doorway of the stairs. An evil smile grew on the alien's face as he saw the determination in Alto's eyes. Kish transported directly in front of the grey kitten as he tried to make an escape to the left.

"Don't be like that, kitty," Kish purred, scooping Alto into his arms. In one swift motion, Kish had placed a thick metal band around the kitten's neck. "I wouldn't try that if I were you," Kish laughed as Alto's fur bristled, preparing himself to turn back into Ryou. "You won't be changing back anytime soon."

Suddenly Ichigo appeared from the smoke at a swift jog, stopping abruptly when she saw Kish. Though her blank eyes showed no respect for the alien, she immediately dropped to her knees, placing her weapon in front of her. Her eyes looked down as she bowed at the waist, forehead inches away from the ground.

"Hello there, Kit- Ow! That hurts, you know," Kish growled, grabbing Alto by the scuff of his neck. The cat hissed, claws out in attempt to do more damage to Kish, other than the claw marks in his arm.

"As I was saying before, hello, Kitten," Kish said, smiling down at Ichigo. "Here, catch," he laughed as he tossed Alto into the air. Ichigo caught Ryou around the middle without even looking up from her position on the ground. Her hand constricted tightly around his chest, slightly cutting off the cat's breathing.

"I wouldn't change back at all, if I were you," Kish continued, "You see that thing around your neck?" The alien pointed at Alto's new collar. "If you change back while wearing that, the band will stay on your neck, but it won't become larger. Basically, if you try to change back into your weak, human self, you'd be dead before you completed the transformation."

Alto struggled to get out of Ichigo's grip, but the way she caught him had him facing Kish, which meant he couldn't claw his way out of this one.

"Come on, Ichigo," Kish said sweetly, and the Mew immediately stood up and stared at Kish with unfeeling eyes. This didn't faze Kish though, and he walked slowly over to her. Reaching up towards Ichigo's face, he softly brushed away a strand of her pink hair. Kish gently leaned in towards her lips, his golden eyes starting to close.

A loud screeching from Ryou made the scene stop as he attempted to claw the alien as he got closer. Disgust and hatred showed in the kitten's face as Kish glared down on him.

"Dispose of the trash," Kish said to Ichigo, smirking as the Mew threw Alto up against the wall. Ryou landed with a thud on floor, but couldn't muster up the strength to lift his head. The collar was too much for the kitten, and it held Alto's head down like a lead weight. Just before Kish started to speak again, an even greater weight fell down on Ryou.

"My sources tell me that you can't stay in cat-form for more than ten minutes, otherwise you'll be stuck like that forever," Kish stated, smiling as he placed his hand in Ichigo's. "Good luck getting that collar off."

In an instant the Mew and alien were gone, leaving the small kitten to an almost certain doom.

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**(Surprisingly, that was a long chapter…)**

**Well, I do believe that the chapter didn't give any answers… I wonder if anyone of you readers figured out Ryou's doom before I told it? If you did, good for you!**

**I'm happy to say that there was some Ichigo/Kish fluff. Even if it was just a couple sentences, it still counts! I hope that makes you readers happy!**

**Well, 'till next time, read and review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I now have two fan-fics! I've got this one, and another one I've recently started, "You Know You're Obsessed With Tokyo Mew Mew When". All would be appreciated if you took a look; you might be entertained, for it's a comedy.**

**Anyway, here's Chapter 14 of "Tears of a Mew Mew".**

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"What are we going to do?" Mint groaned, frustration replacing her earlier anger. Kish had retreated, and the Mews couldn't get in touch with Ryou. On top of it all, they had a non-Japanese speaking woman with them who'd never seen a Mew before. Things were just getting worse and worse.

Mint sighed and put her necklace back on, the cool pendant lying against her neck. No one was responding so she was giving up on contact for now. Turning, she looked at the pitiful sight of Lettuce and Pudding, trying to explain what they were to Aubrie using hand motions.

"We…" Lettuce said, gesturing around at the three Mews, "are morphed…" she clasped her hands together, "with animals…" she pointed at Pudding's tail and ear combo. Lettuce might've been explaining rocket science to a kindergartener, because Aubrie wasn't getting it. She sat there with wide eyes, staring at the Mews like they were from another world.

She whispered something, and then she turned her head to look at Masaya's limp form. Lettuce, Pudding, and Mint gasped, they'd forgotten about him. A sense of panic washed over them again, and their eyes started to water.

"We need a phone," Pudding declared immediately, hitting her fist against her palm. She averted her eyes away from the Blue Knight, and added, "Now, na no da."

"I-I agree with Pudding-san," Lettuce stuttered, also averting her eyes.

They were off running before the flashes of light around them had subsided. Battle clothing had been replaced with everyday wear as all traces of animal genes disappeared. The Mews clambered through the previously tread-on debris as they rushed towards help, leaving Aubrie behind in their dust. Soon the sound of sirens blared in their ears and lights flashed. Just as the three girls had left the rubble, dust covered and shaking with nerves, health care officials rushed forward and grabbed each girl by the hand.

They startled rattling off in English, pushing them down into seats. The white-clad nurses and doctors poked and prodded at each of the girls, looking into their eyes and checking for cuts. They must've thought that the girls had been witnesses at the clock when it collapsed.

Lettuce was too stunned at the sudden attention to speak, but Mint tried to shove them off. "Phone, we need a phone!" Mint shouted. Each person attending to them stopped their work, gaping at them. Confused eyes looked around the room as one doctor asked a question, and everyone near them shrugged. None of them knew how to speak Japanese, that was for sure.

"Na no da, na no da," Pudding said in a sing-song voice, tugging on the sleeve of a nurse close to her, catching her attention. The nurse got down low, and looked Pudding in the eyes. All the young girl could do was smile, and she made a scribbling motion on her hand.

Mint and Lettuce watched in surprise as the nurse rushed away, and brought back a pen and a pad of notebook paper. Excitedly, Pudding grabbed the paper and began to draw. After a minute or so, the Mew held up the pad, with a roughly drawn sketch of a telephone etched on the surface.

Less than two minutes later, Pudding was handed a cell phone by a smiling nurse.

"Guess you don't need to speak the same language to communicate," Mint murmured as Pudding pressed the phone into her hands.

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Riiiiiiiiiiiing. Scrape. Riiiiiiiiiiiing. Scrape. Riiiiiiiiiiiing. Scrape.

These were the sounds that Keiichiro Akasaka woke up to. Even though the ringing of the phone stopped, the scraping continued, gradually getting louder. The pastry maker tried to get up, but found that he couldn't move. His fingers twitched slightly from the aftermath of the electrical shock, but other than that, his body was still.

Scrape… Scrape… Scrape…

Curiosity peaking, Akasaka focused all his energy on opening his eyes. It saddened him that he couldn't perform this task normally, and wondered how much power there had been behind his attack.

"Meow," a cat mewed next to his ear. "Meow," the cat murmured again, louder and more frantic. With a small victory, Akasaka opened his eyes a bit to see a small gray kitten directly in front of his face. The cat's eyes were wide and frantic, it's head weighed down onto the floor by an iron band. That must've been the scraping sound he'd previously heard.

"Ryou," Akasaka murmured, closing his eyes to conserve energy to speak, "I can't move." The chef paused for a moment, and then, in a saddened voice, asked, "It's been more than ten, hasn't it?"

Keiichiro could feel a small paw placed on his chest, and heard Ryou let out a sorrowful, "Meow."

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**I feel bad for Ryou, but I'm positive it'll work out… maybe?**

**Oh, by the way, I'm going to re-write the first five-or-so chapters of this story. Why? Well, I wrote those chapters as one original story a year ago, and since then my writing style has changed. Frankly, I'm not too happy with them, so I'm going to re-write them. Don't worry, I won't be changing anything to the main plot! Also, I'll tell you when I've posted them!**

**Well, 'till next time, read and review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Well, I have no excuses other than I forgot about the story. Seriously, until I started getting review alerts on my e-mails, I had pretty much forgotten that I was in the middle of writing something. Sorry everybody, I'll make it up to you somehow. How about a long chapter? Sounds nice, huh? Well, here's Chapter 15 of "Tears of a Mew Mew". Enjoy!**

--

"They didn't pick up," Mint groaned. The nurses were still running around them, bringing in more and more people. They stared at the Mews, who'd finished being treated, with interest while they were being treated by the white-clad medical professionals. Mint hated that they were being stared at as they made plans on what to do next, just because they spoke Japanese. _She_ didn't stare at them for speaking English, so she just glared at them, while Pudding and Lettuce discussed their plans.

"We should try calling again, na no da!" Pudding declared loudly, which caught the attention of several patients, but Mint glared at them and they averted their eyes from the three girls.

"That sounds good," Lettuce said, smiling at the elementary schooler's enthusiasm, "Maybe they couldn't reach the phone in time."

"It's the only plan we have so far, so why not?" Mint murmured, re-dialing the Café's number.

Riiiiiing…

Riiiiiing…

Riiii-

"Meow?"

"Ichigo!?" Mint burst out immediately, heart swelling with hope, but tongue preparing for lashing out a severe scolding.

"Ichigo?!" Pudding cried excitedly.

"Ichigo-san?" Lettuce asked in wonder, green eyes wide.

A fierce growling from the other end of the line signaled to Mint that it, sadly, wasn't Ichigo.

"Well, if you're not Ichigo," Mint asked, heart growing heavy as she saw Pudding and Lettuce's faces fall, "who are you?"

"Meow."

"What?"

"Me-ow."

"I don't speak cat," Mint replied, rolling her eyes, but Pudding giggled. After a slight pause, the Mew swore she heard the cat _sigh_. What was going on? Suddenly, a large scraping noise was heard, followed by the groan of a man.

"Ryou, what is it?" the man groaned softly, barely audible to Mint.

"Meow."

"I don't speak cat, Ryou… Can you hand… slide me the phone?"

A loud scrapping noise sounded, followed by a man groaning.

"Hello?" the familiar voice of Akasaka slowly drifted out of the phone. Mint was shocked for a brief second, hearing the pain in the man's voice. Ryo was a cat, Akasaka was hurt… the name "Kish" was written all over it.

"What happened?" Mint demanded.

"What do you…" he broke off, a large cry of pain escaping his lips.

"That's what I mean!" Mint practically screamed, tension from their attack to the Café's attack getting to her. What in the world was going on!?

"We were… attacked. I didn't… make it out… too well," Keichiro gasped out in segments.

"What's wrong with you? How badly did Kish hurt you?" Mint demanded. She glanced at the wide-eyed looks Pudding and Lettuce gave her. They all realized how the situation was getting worse and worse.

"I've got some burns, and I think a few ribs are broken, but currently I can't move. Though, if you're asking about what Kish has done, well, Ryou's about half the proof you need," Akasaka's voice getting fainter and fainter as he talked.

"Wait, you mean Kish did _nothing_ to you?" Mint gasped. She saw the other Mews' eyebrows rise. "Then, how did you get hurt?"

"Ichigo," the pastry chef said quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

"ICHIGO?!" Mint screamed. Immediately, Pudding was on her lap, and Lettuce was trying to press her ear as close to the phone as she possibly could.

"Yes… I, can't explain… now," the Mews could barely hear his voice anymore. "You need to… get back here… fast." Keiichiro groaned.

"B-but how a-are we going to get back?" Lettuce questioned, nervous.

"I'll do… what I can… go somewhere… without people…" Akasaka gasped. "You… need to… hurry…"

"Are you going to do the same thing that got us here?" Mint questioned. There was no answer on the other end of the line. "Hello? Akasaka-san?"

"You… need to… save… Ichigo…"

A click sounded, and the line went dead. Mint closed the cell phone slowly, looking over her shoulder at Lettuce. Lettuce stared back at her, her green eyes round.

"What do we do," Mint asked quietly, "Ichigo…"

"We need to help Ichigo onee-chan!" Pudding declared, sliding off of Mint's lap. "Follow me, na no da!" the little Mew shouted as she began weaving in and out of the patients and nurses.

"Pudding!" Mint shouted, jumping up, "Pudding, hold on!" Turning to the closest nurse, who was eyeing her questioningly, Mint shoved the cell phone into her hands. "Thank… you…" she said slowly, not sure if she'd said the only words other than "Hello" that she knew in English correctly.

The nurse flashed Mint a white-toothed smile, nodding her head as if to say "You're welcome". With that, Mint and Lettuce turned and ran after Pudding, trying not to knock any people down. This they found was difficult, because not only was Pudding smaller, but she used her acrobatic skills to roll and leap under and over people. They reached the door just in time to see a flash of Pudding's orange clothes darting into the mass of rubble that used to be Big Ben.

--

"Drat, we couldn't cut the connection in time," Kish mumbled, leaning back from the computer. "So, what do we do now?" He looked to Pai, waiting for an answer.

"We should continue to monitor all calls being received at Café Mew Mew," Pai answered simply.

"Duh," Taruto said, floating over to where Kish and Pai were sitting, "but what do we do about the Mews?"

"Well, they're going to find out anyway…" Kish began, gaze switching in between Pai and Taruto, a smile on his lips. "Why don't we unveil the big surprise to them?"

"We will continue with everything as planned," Pai said, his voice hard. The purple-haired alien's eyes never left the computer.

"It _is_ going as planned, so why can't we mess around with the Mews a little?" Taruto whined, glaring at Pai. "We need their emotions to be crushed right? So-"

"So why can't we use this opportunity when they know practically nothing to destroy them?" Kish finished, thumping his fist on the keyboard. His golden eyes locked on Pai's face, waiting for an answer. None came; Pai's full attention was on the computer.

"Oi, Pai!" Kish said, turning his full body towards Pai.

"The Mew Mew Leader is experiencing some difficultly right now," Pai said in his normal, monotone voice. Pressing a button on the computer, the screen turned to security footage of Ichigo, locked in a small room with Earth furnishings.

"Hey, what did the Old Hag do!?" Tartuto cried, rushing towards the screen.

"Kitten," Kish whispered, voice full of shock, his eyes wide.

Ichigo's room was a complete and utter disaster. The small bed that had been provided for her had been stripped, the sheets ripped to shreds. Her mattress had suffered to large slashes in the middle, resulting in some of the springs sticking out. A small wooden table was lying in pieces; the small, plastic lamp that had sat on top of it had been thrown across the room. Along with the shattered pieces of light bulb along the floor, two pillows had been torn open, feathers covering every available surface. Worst of all, were the burn marks that marked the walls. Some had melted through spots on the metal walls, exposing the colorful wiring beneath. What was even more shocking than the room was Ichigo herself.

The Mew was lying in the middle of the mess, her arms and legs splayed out. Ichigo's dress was crinkled with chunks of the skirt torn off. Burn marks coved the edges of the pink fabric. Her gloves were barely still attached to her hands, clinging desperately to her wrists. The reddish fabric had been burned off of most of her palm and fingers. Ichigo's pink hair was tangled and knotty, the very edges of her bangs burned to a dark brown. The Mew groaned softly, her cat ears twitching.

"What in the world did that Old Hag…?" Taruto trailed off.

"Kitten," Kish whispered again, "Kitten, what did you do?"

"From my calculations," Pai said, the security footage from the room being overlapped with a table of complex numbers, "that the serum we gave the Mew Leader had a negative effect on her mind."

"Well, what can we do about it?" Kish asked quickly, voice edged with worry.

"Another dose of the serum should erase all of the unwanted emotions and actions," Pai said simply, disappearing for a second, and then teleporting back with a syringe.

"Okay, then let's get this over with," Taruto muttered, grabbing the instrument, "Kish, let's go." Taruto turned to Kish, only to see him exiting out of the number table. "Hey, what are you doing? We need to give this to the Mew." Kish ignored him, staring directly ahead at the screen. "What's with you?" the small alien asked, seeing his comrade's worried look.

"She's waking up," Kish said quietly.

On the live security footage before him, Ichigo stirred. Her ears and tail began to twitch, followed by her arms moving to push herself up into a sitting position. Slowly, her hand came to rest on her face, but she suddenly froze, ears swiveling to lay flat against her head. Moving her hand away, she looked up at the camera. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of hatred and rage that sent chills running up and down Kish's spine. Lifting up her hands, she summoned her Strawberry Bell. With whispered words, a pink flash flew at the camera. Before the camera gave way, the aliens saw one last image of Ichigo. She had a small smile playing at the edges of her mouth, pink eyes shining.

"This'll be interesting," Taruto muttered, as Kish sat back in his chair in shock. "We need to think of a... wait a mintute, aren't her eyes supposed to be black!?" the brown haired alien cried, turning to Pai for a reason.

"Things don't appear to be going as planned," he murmured, deep in thought.

--

**Ooh, things are getting interesting, aren't they? I hope you'll forgive me for my long absence, and I really will try to update this more frequently. How could I have been so evil to leave you guys at such a cliffhanger the last time I posted? Well, it seems like I did it again, but that's what makes a story interesting, right? **

**Honestly, until I was reading back through some of the chapters after I posted this for the first time (I had to change it immediately), I didn't realize her eyes were supposed to be black. Congrats to any reader who had a good enough memory to make the connection before I pointed it out. I can completely understand if you forgot, the detial was only mentioned once, three chapters back when Ichigo "transformed" into the alien's... not revealing it yet!**

**Well, 'till next time (which is hopefully soon), read and review!**


	16. Chapter 16

I know that it must be very surprising for some of you that I'm updating this soon

**I know that it must be very surprising for some of you that I'm updating this soon. Yeah, I'm trying to keep up with it better, especially since everyone seemed to be really happy that I updated. Thanks for not yelling at me! (That honestly was my worst fear.)**

**Anyway, here's Chapter 16 of "Tears of a Mew Mew", enjoy!**

--

Everyone was shocked, and they had great reason to be. They just looked down blankly, not sure what to think, not sure what to do. How was this possible? What had happened? There was no sign of disturbance anywhere, just an empty spot where someone should've been. True, it could be possible, they hadn't checked to see if the unthinkable had happened. Still, how..?

Mint shook her head, Lettuce stared, and Pudding's mouth hung open. Beneath the clock face was no one; the Blue Knight had disappeared.

--

She felt as if she wasn't alone in the room anymore. Her ears swiveled to lay flat against her head, she tensed, a growl ripping from her throat.

"Ichigo," a voice said, "Ichigo, please calm down."

Ichigo… was that her name? She didn't care what answers could that bring to her? A deep sadness was tearing away at her heart. The girl didn't know why she was sad, or why rage was controlling her. Her mind was blank, with no memories to grab onto.

Looking straight ahead, she saw one of the burns she'd marked on the walls with anger before she'd passed out. Now she was awake, and with the person who'd been peering down on her with that camera.

"Ichigo, please, you need to calm down," the person said, voice edged worry.

Whispering the words that brought her weapon into her hands, she turned. She shouted her attack, aiming at the green-haired teen she'd seen out of the corner of her eye. He easily dodged, moving around the attack, flying forward and grabbing her hands. She dropped her weapon as he clamped her hands together.

"Ichigo look at me!" the teen shouted, pressing his face against hers. She screeched in anger, trapped, but refusing to meet the angry gaze of his golden eyes. "Ichigo, look at me!" Somehow, she felt drawn to his eyes, and let her gaze flick to his for just a moment. "Ichigo, do you know who I am?" the teen asked fiercely.

"How should I know," the girl, Ichigo, growled. "How about you tell me who I am, where I am, and why you were watching me through that camera!?" she screamed, fighting his grip on her hands. With no prevail, she kicked, aiming for a sensitive spot.

"Taruto, grab her!" the green haired teen shouted, flying backwards to avoid Ichigo's kick.

Before the girl could do anything, a tiny, but strong, pair of hands grabbed her arms, pinning them against her back. She shouted out in surprise as she was pushed to the floor, her head knocking against the metal floor. Her mind spun as the pain of the impact raced through her head. Though her eyes were swimming, she was able to make out the green haired teen land next to her.

"Quick, give the hag the sedative!" an unfamiliar, childish voice said. Taruto, Ichigo concluded.

She gasped when a moment later when she felt a needle digging into her arm. Almost immediately her head was fuzzier than it had been after she hit it, her vision began growing dark. Her tail twitched, sending the sound of a tinkling bell to her ears.

"See you soon, Kitten," the teen murmured in her ear. Then, she was gone.

--

**Sedative, not serum, huh? That really was a last-minute decision, but I think you'll like the outcome of it! But, where did the Blue Knight go!? You'll find out soon enough!**

**Well, 'till next time, read and review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Wow, congrats Pinky Strawberry Angel, I've never had someone threaten to sue me before. I've had people (not online) yell and complain to me, but that threat has never come up. Good for you! Thanks to all the people who have been reviewing to this story! It really makes me happy when I open up my email and I see all the review alerts that Fanficiton has sent me. Thanks! Well, here's Chapter 17 of "Tears of a Mew Mew", enjoy!**

--

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Ryou groaned. That stupid scraping noise was getting on his nerves.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Panting, with pain vibrating through his neck, the little gray cat made one, strong effort to cover the remaining distance.

Scraaaaaaaape.

He practically collapsed as he reached the computer, most of his energy spent on getting there. When the phone line went dead, Keiichiro had made his best attempts to move.

"I have to help them," the man had gasped over and over again as he'd tried to get himself into a sitting position. Ryou had meowed him on encouragingly, but the pastry had passed out before he'd barely gotten his torso off the floor. Now it was up to Ryou.

Rather it was lucky or unlucky, Ichigo, in whatever state she'd been in, had pretty much blown up everything. The hard metal covering had been melted away, revealing the wires underneath. Right now, Ryou was looking into the heart of the alien technology he'd used to transport the Mews to London.

"Meow…" Ryou grumbled. _Stupid collar… it's going to make this hard. It's not as if I don't already have a threat of electrocution…_ He looked warily at some of the frayed wires, and sighed._ Let's hope this thing still works._

--

Beep… beep… beep…

This time when she woke up, there was no rage. The deep sadness still wrenched at her heart, making her want to cry. She didn't know what the point of crying would be unless she knew what she was crying about, so she blinked back the tears that came to her eyes.

Slowly, she focused on her surroundings. Her eyes widened when she flicked them around, seeing a heart-rate monitor giving readouts, and an IV stuck in her arm. The bed she was on was stark white, though she was still in her torn uniform.

Why did this all seem to ring a bell..?

"Ichigo?" the familiar voice came to her, making her eyes widen, "Ichigo?" Suddenly his face was in hers, green ponytails almost close enough to touch her face. He seemed tense, eyes flicking across her features. "Ichigo, are you feeling okay?"

"Uh… yes?" It was true, she felt no pain, and her body was relaxed. A question quickly popped into her mind: why was it any of his business? She peered up at him with her pink eyes, searching for an answer.

A look of relief was washing over his face, his body beginning to relax. He eased away, and sat down in a chair placed next to her bed. Placing his head into his hands, he whispered, "Thank god," letting out a deep breath.

This confused her. Again Ichigo wondered why he would care. Wasn't she hostile to him the last time she woke up? Shouldn't he hate her? As if to answer, he looked up, a large smile spreading across his face.

"I'm so glad…" His gaze met hers. "I'd hate to loose my closest friend… my partner."

"Partner?" Ichigo asked, confusion welling up inside of her. What was going on?

--

**Yes, Ichigo, what IS going on? Pretty much whatever the heck the author wants. Another last minute decision here. I planned on having the whole chapter dedicated to Ryou's/Alto's try to get the Mews back, but I saw no fun in typing that unless I had him electrocute himself.**

**No, I would never do that, so you can stop freaking out now, Ryou fans. With the heck I've put him through electrocution on top of that would be just plain mean. And no, I wouldn't of made him die. I prefer not to kill off characters unless they deserve it. That (in the state he's in) little cat doesn't deserve it. Though, I can tell you, things are about to get interesting!**

**Answers to questions are coming! 'Till next time, read and review!**

**P.S. I met the deadline!!**


	18. Chapter 18

**So, I opened up my e-mail today and there was a message for me from Fanfiction. How long had it been since I'd gotten one? Though there had been a few pop-ups from time to time about people adding my story to their favorites, this time I was surprised to find a request to continue on with this story. It was a kind of wake up call.**

**To be honest, I haven't thought about this story in about two years; the same amount of time which has passed since I last updated. My mind was wrapped around so many other things, and I completely forgot about this little side project I was working on. I had made it into a side project, after so many hours in front of the computer plotting, writing, editing, and waiting for any kind of review that came my way.**

**Your review made me think of those times, Breezyfeather. Thanks for reminding me how much I love Tokyo Mew Mew, and my own little slice of it.**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 18 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

Something was not right.

It was in the way she walked. It was in the way she turned to look at him. It was in the way her eyes, no matter what expression she held on her face, remained partially within focus. It was as if she was thinking of something else.

Someone else.

A deep flare of anger ignited within the teen, his golden eyes filling with suspicion. His logic told him that there was no possible way she knew of anything outside of this world, the world they had created for her.

Such things as memories could be easily fabricated; a simple adjustment of electric pulse within the brain. However, he knew it to be true that emotions can far outlive memories.

_Still_, he thought, a small smile reaching up to the sinister light in his eyes, _any possible reminder had been wiped from existence._

The girl laughed, as though she agreed with his private thoughts. Her pink hair bounced with her step, the black ears adorning her hair perking up with excitement.

She was so beautiful.

In a swift motion the teen reached out and spun the girl into his arms. A quick peck on the cheek sent a blush rising into the girl's cheeks, turning her as red as the strawberry she was named for. But she did not pull away. She nestled closer to the teen, not looking into his eyes, but seeking warmth in his embrace.

Memories, after all, were easily fabricated. It did not take such genius to alter even a person's emotions. Anything it took to get her to trust him.

Even more.

_Soon there will be no threats to us_, he thought, resting his head on her hers for a moment. He breathed in her scent.

Again, something was not right.

Suddenly the girl broke away from his arms, but grabbed firmly onto his hand. He allowed himself to be pulled along, basking in the happiness that radiated off of his kitten. The bell on her tail jingled, ringing clear in the open air surrounding them.

They were going on a trip; a test of sorts. What better time to expose the Mew to the world when the inhabitants of her _old_ self were waiting for her arrival in London?

**I really hope that wasn't too much of a disappointment. If it you hate that for being my latest installment after two years… Gomenasai!**

**For once since this story was started, I actually know where I'm going with this. Sort of. I have a plan, but it would seem to be too predictable, and so the chances are I'll change it.**

**I truly do hope to be updating soon! Thanks for not giving up on me!**

**Well, 'til next time, read and review! ^_^**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm very proud to be able to update again so soon! It's not clear how long I will be able to keep up with the frequent posts, but I will try my best.**

**Thanks for the reviews, they made me very happy! I hope this chapter can live up to any expectations you had!**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 19 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

It was as if the world was burning. The sun fought with the moon for dominance in the sky, but the moon devoured the angry rays exploding from the giant star. Their battle bathed the smoke that still rose from the scattered embers, turning it the color of blood.

But the day was ending. Soon all would be covered in the cool darkness of night, where the girls could easily hide in the shadows of the spotlights. Too many things had happened for the search teams to overlook three distraught, Japanese girls, in the middle of the biggest disaster that had hit the city since World War II. They had to wait for the Café to get back with any way to get them home. It had been hours already, and would probably turn into hours more.

As the hours passed, the death toll was slowly rising. Bodies were found, recovered, and identified. Missing persons reports were filed. People prayed. Teams were sent out, came back in, and were replaced with new teams. Dogs were sent out to look for people. More dogs were sent out to search for points of arson. Police were asking questions, following leads, rounding up suspects. The news reporters had their cameras rolling.

Pudding didn't dare move from her spot behind the clock face to perform for them. The little girl didn't have the will to move from her spot. It was her job to wait with her pendant for any call from the Café while Lettuce and Mint went to find out any information about the disaster. Who had caused the collapse? Had anyone seen Kish? Had anyone seen the Blue Knight?

It was her job to be patient.

But her job gave the little girl too much time to think.

She was too proud to let the true despair she was feeling show in front of the two older girls. She was Mew Pudding; she had faced aliens bent on destroying the world. She had fought her battles and won. She had single handedly taken care of her family, assisted her friends, and saved people whose names she would never know, and who would never know hers.

She would not cry. It was her job to wait for the call, to wait for a familiar voice to reach her with an answer. She would not be able to respond if sobs were tearing through her chest. It was impossible to hope if she had tears running down her face.

But the sounds of disaster were all around her.

Screams for help came from within the scattered gears and metal only to be masked by the sound of the alarms that had blared non-stop for hours. Those pained voices around her blended with the voices that shouted orders through megaphones. They were the voices that belonged to the ones who had sounded the alarms. She found the irony in how they were making it harder for the ones they were searching for to be found.

From time to time boots would crunch through the debris scattered in front of the clock face. They were going places while their dogs sniffed around. The dogs would spend several, agonizing minutes around the clock face, clearly smelling the dried blood where the Blue Knight used to lay.

She would hold her breath, refusing to move the slightest in case a pebble near her would move. They could hear her, but they could not smell her. Around her a small circle of herbs she always carried in a small pouch. A secret family recipe, the herbs could mask any smell. Though she generally used it on her brother's and sister's uniforms when she hadn't had the time to do laundry, it could hide her from the rescue dogs. She was one of the few that did not want to be found.

Somewhere a man with long blonde hair and blue eyes knew about the disaster that had happened. He knew Mew Ichigo was in trouble. He had risen from the grave below the clock face to save her.

The little girl, deep inside her heart, convinced herself that this was true.

It was his job to protect the one he loved, just like it was Pudding's job to wait.

* * *

**Sorry if you wanted Ichigo and Kish in this chapter, but I just really needed to fill in some of the details about what was happening in the other part of the world. Reading back through this story, I realized what a meager description I put about the destruction of Big Ben. My excuse is that I wrote it a couple years ago, and was so concentrated on dialogue and story content that it just skipped my mind. So, I hope from this you could really get the feel of how bad it is. There will be even more description of it later on. I can promise you that things won't be wrapped up in London too quickly.**

**Also, I decided that Pudding would be a good focus character for this story. When you think about it, though she's a Mew, she really is just a little girl. If anyone would be hurt from an experience like this, it would be her. But, her character is really strong, and that's something I like about her.**

**Well, I hope to be updating soon. So, 'til next time, read and review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I hope you all remember the character I'm pulling up in this chapter. She kind of dropped out in Chapter 14, though she played an important role as the Mews informant about the destruction at Big Ben.**

**Also, I am in the process of rewriting this story all the way up 'til Chapter 18. Don't worry; nothing's going to change about it. I realized how my description in all the earlier chapters was really lacking, and I began to think of all the things I **_**could've**_** added and change around. So, that's what I'm doing now. Chapter 1 is already up if you want to take a look at it!**

**Well, here's Chapter 20 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

"I am not in a state of shock," Aubrie said, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. "I demand to speak to the higher officials _now_."

Two nurses stood back, watching the events unfold. Both held gauze and disinfectant, waiting to tend to the open cuts across the woman's head and legs. Bright, overhead lights lit up the medical tent they were in. It was set up just outside the ruins of the once majestic clock tower. Streets were still blocked all around the area. Various other tents had been placed up in the middle of the London's busiest roads, acting as police headquarters, anti-terrorism units, and make-shift hospitals. News cameras were rolling just outside the police blockades, catching the face of every victim brought in and out of the medical tents. They caught the body bags being rolled away in ambulances.

"Ma'am," the man before her sighed, shaking his head, "I know we told the press that we are open to all possibilities for the cause of this disaster, but that…" he trailed off, choosing his words, "It's just too… ridiculous."

"Ridiculous!" Aubrie exclaimed, glaring at the man. His eyes were tired, his blue uniform coated in dust. The orange vest that had been passed off to him by the previous search and rescue officer smelled like the fires that had been put out earlier in the day. It was not his responsibility to listen to witness testimonies, but there he stood. And so he took all of the heat from the distressed woman.

"I don't care if it sounds believable or not!" she continued, snapping her words, which caused the man to flinch. "You _will_ take me to speak to the higher authorities!"

"And tell them what!" the man cried, the stress of the day falling down on him in a single instant. "I'm supposed to allow you to stand in the already lengthy witness line so you can waste their time? I'm just supposed to let you spout out some ridiculous story like something out of a comic book? We found you on the ground, ma'am, face down in the rubble! You'd fainted from shock!"

"Are you telling me that it was all just a dream?" Aubrie shot back. "I just made up the cause for the destruction of my nation's greatest monument! Is that what–"

The man held up his hand, cutting off the woman's rants. With heavy, pitying eyes he observed her for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. The nurses, sensing that the argument had come to a near-close, dared to approach the annoyed woman. The large gash in her leg had begun bleeding again. The man watched as they cut off the leg of her jeans to reach the wound. As one nurse began to sterilize the sensitive flesh, the man's eyes drifting along the line of blood that dripped down onto the floor. He stared at the slowly forming puddle for a moment.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, avoiding looking into the woman's eyes. He just stared at the blood on the floor. Another moment passed, and suddenly he turned, easily slipping into the rush of that twisted around the tent. The woman's eyes followed his hunched shoulders across the tent as the second nurse began to wipe the dirt from her forehead so she could reach the cuts.

Aubrie sighed heavily, allowing the nurses to do their work. The pain that had subsided due to shock had slowly begun to resurface. Her whole body ached, and her eyes were having problems focusing. She was hungry; she was thirsty; she was tired. She wanted to go home and sleep; she wanted someone to believe her.

"I know what I saw," she muttered to herself, watching as her leg disappeared behind a veil of gauze. Even the nurses who were treating her probably thought she had been dreaming. Maybe she had been; but that was impossible.

As they were carrying her into the medical tent on a stretcher, she had seen them through half-opened eyes: three Japanese girls with oddly colored hair. They'd run out of the tent, looking just as distressed as they'd been when they'd been fighting the green-haired flying boy. People had acknowledged their existence, moving aside so that they could rush past.

She hadn't been imagining it; they were real. Which made the threat real.

She had to tell those girls what had happened. It looked like the man underneath the clock-face was their friend. Those girls were involved with this. If anyone would believe her, they would. They may even provide her with some answers, or at least whoever she was talking to through the weird cell-phone thing was.

"You're all set," one nurse said suddenly, pulling Aubrie out of her haze of thoughts. "You'll need to sign out, and you'll also need to fill out some forms before you can leave."

"Thank you," Aubrie said, smiling gratefully at the two nurses. They smiled back at her. Now that she was looking at them directly, she could see the bags underneath their tired eyes. How long had those two been working, dealing with the injured people? How many people had been dragged into the tent for these two to treat? How many deaths had they seen today?

And they had had to hear her pointless argument with that officer earlier. Those two, who probably wanted all the noise around them to just stop so they could sleep, had to deal with her on top of all the insufferable moans of pain, crying, and complaining from the patients across the tent.

Before Aubrie could say an apology, both had turned and fallen into the rush of people. After only a moment of rest, they had gone back to work. They were people to be admired.

With that thought, she herself melded into the ocean of people, working her way towards the entrance of the tent. For several minutes she waited in the long line of bandaged people. Carefully she filled out the stark white forms, providing any information that would allow the government to find her, allowing them to come talk to her for a testimony; the works. As she handed in the form, she saw a flash of color out of the corner of her eye.

Immediately she turned her head, seeing a girl with bright pink hair walk past the tent. Her features could only be described as Japanese. Aubrie's heart leapt into her throat. It was one of them! Though it wasn't one of the girls she seen earlier, she was definitely involved in this. Within a split second the woman ran out of the tent, pushing past people. There was no way she was going to lose this girl.

A line of stretchers blocked her path to the girl, each carrying a black bag. Aubrie's eyes avoiding looking down; she didn't want to face what could have happened to her. If that blonde-haired man hadn't protected her…

Her mind completely stopped for a moment, her eyes widening and mouth dropping open.

"No," she whispered, seeing a flash of green walking through the crowd as well. Arm in arm with the pink-haired girl was the teenager who had fought the girls from earlier. The two walked casually towards the ruins of Big Ben. No one stopped them; they had snagged the orange jackets of the search and rescue team. Neither of them looked at anyone that passed them, or even the destruction around them. Both had their eyes set forward, intent on the task ahead of them.

Aubrie knew immediately what they were going to do; who they were looking for. And the green-haired teen, the one who she had seen fly, knew exactly where to find them.

Without even processing fully what she was doing, the woman turned and ran directly into the ruins of Big Ben. She passed people walking in and out of the smoke, but none of them stopped her. They were all stressed, tired; they didn't have time to deal with one woman who was clearly healthy enough to run.

Only she wasn't; she could feel pain shooting through her leg, the cuts on her forehead stinging as she began to sweat. But she didn't care. She was heading towards the clock face. No matter what, she had to beat them there, even if it meant reopening the gash in her leg. There were more important things in life than her own personal comfort.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it! I know Aubrie isn't from Tokyo Mew Mew, but I hope you like her! She's kind of hot-headed and opinionated, though she's a valuable informant. Also, the "weird, cell phone thing" she was talking about was one of the Mews pendants she spoke to Ryou through.**

**I'm happy to tell you that I am in half-way through with writing the next chapter, so it she be up soon! (Personally, it's my favorite one that I've written so far.) ^_^**

**So, 'til next time, read and review! (Please!)**

**(I figured I'd be polite, this time.)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Turns out that I lied in my comments the last chapter; this isn't my favorite chapter that I've written so far. I wrote something that I thought would be this chapter, but there were too many things I needed to fill in before I put it in here.**

**(They're the answers to the questions like where Mint and Lettuce are, why they left Pudding, and what, or should I say who *spoiler* Kish and Ichigo were looking for. The answers are coming daisukezgirl13! You've just got to be patient for now. Sorry!)**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 21 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

Beneath the shadows of the clock face, Pudding had begun to get drowsy. Her mind drifted, trying to remember what Ryou had said the time difference was in London. She wondered if her younger brothers and sisters were able to heat up their dinner okay. Luckily she had left a note on the fridge saying to eat without her if she was late coming home from work. The real problem would be if she wasn't home before bed. Who would read them their bedtime story? Would they all properly brush their teeth? Were they fighting over who could wash their face first?

Sighing, she unclenched her hand to look at her pendant. How many hours had it been since they had spoken with Akasaka-san? Pudding patted her hands on either side of her face, trying to wake up.

"Pudding has to be awake if Mint and Lettuce onee-chan come back," she told herself. "When they come back, they may have Ichigo onee–" Her voice caught in her throat, her eyes welling up with tears. Furiously, she tried to blink them away, but one image kept popping up in her head: the first glimpse of the Blue Knight, his rib cage crushed underneath the clock face. If something like that had happened to Ichigo…

A sob escaped her throat before she could hold it back. She could picture it; a twisted thought tainting a child's pure mind. The blood the dogs kept sniffing as they passed would be Ichigo's from where the clock face had fallen on her. Her dress would be torn and stained red, her strawberry bell broken in half just out of her desperate reach. Her ears would lie limply against her tangled hair.

Another sob escaped. Pudding quickly brought her fists up to her eyes to help hold back her tears. She would not cry; she had promised herself she would not cry. It was her job to wait for that familiar voice...

"Looks like you're emotionally compromised," a boy's voice mocked, causing Pudding's head to shoot up. Her grip on her pendant became even tighter. This was not the familiar voice she had been waiting to hear.

"Guess we can try it out on you now, too," the voice continued, the smile apparent in his voice.

A pair of arms grabbed the young girl from behind, pulling her to her feet. She screamed from instinct, fighting to get away. Something cool was pressed against her arm; it pricked her.

"MEW MEW PUDDING, METAMORPHO-SIS!" she cried, breaking free from the boy's grip. A yellow glow enveloped the young girl, lighting up the dark space, revealing her attacker.

"Taruto!" Pudding growled, holding her weapon defensively in front of her. "What were you doing?" He stared at her, a playful expression on his face and a strong grip on the syringe in his hand. "Is that what you used on Ichigo onee-chan?"

"And a bit on you," he teased. It was then she noticed the little tint of red on the tip of the needle.

"Ribb-on," she began, holding up the two rings. He had injected her with something; she needed to get that syringe away from Taruto. It could be used to save Ichigo. "Pudding Ring INFERNO!"

The little alien easily dodged the attack, transporting away in an instant. Pudding's attack had broken the clock face in half; one piece fell forward, allowing the Mew to get out easily to continue her attack.

"Did you really think that would work against me?" Taruto's voice taunted. He was nowhere to be seen, but Pudding could sense his presence. Going to the center of the clearing before the clock face, she pivoted quickly, her weapons poised at the ready. It was dark; too dark to see anything around her. The floodlights seemed to be miles away.

"Ribb-on," she said, preparing herself, "Pudding Ring…" There was another prick, this time in her shoulder. "INFERNO!"

The area was bathed in light for a moment. She saw Taruto flying away defensively, but the attack did not hit him. The syringe was half-empty; half of it was inside of her.

She felt a cool sensation rush down from her shoulder. Something was dripping down her arm, but it did not smell like blood. The scent that hit her was chemical. She gasped in surprise, and immediately slipped her armband down to wipe the liquid off of her arm. Now she had a sample; Ichigo could be saved.

But it meant nothing if she couldn't get out of this fight. Her head had begun spinning, but she stood strong. She silently prayed that Lettuce and Mint had seen the light of her attack over the tall piles of rubble and were on their way back right now.

But they were both hoping that Pudding had seen the light of their attacks.

* * *

**Sorry that was a short chapter, but with what I'm putting in the next chapter it seemed like a pretty good place to cut it off. My mind has been running around with these chapters, and I seriously wrote a full chapter that will probably fall into the Chapter 23 or Chapter 24 category. **_**That**_** one is my favorite one that I have written so far!**

**Don't worry though, I hope to be updating pretty soon! And, I'm very close to finishing the re-write for Chapter 2!**

**So, until next time, read and review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**ANSWERS! **

**To at least **_**some**_** questions.**

**That's all I have to say.**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 22 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

"I don't what we should do," Mint sighed, looking around at the confusion that still possessed the medical tents on the outer edge of the destruction. She averted her eyes as more body bags were being run to the ambulance, and turned to Lettuce. The poor girl was caught up in the bustle, apologizing again and again as people bumped into her. Her hands were held up to her, to make herself a smaller object, but people still pushed into her. None of them even bothered looking her in the face, or even mutter an apology.

"W-we should go back to Pudding-san," the green-eyed girl stuttered. "We r-really shouldn't have left her–"

At that moment the Mew was elbowed in the face by a tall police man walking by. He held a thick stack of papers, and didn't even glance at Lettuce as he pushed pass. The poor girl fell to the ground, her glasses slipping off the end of her nose.

"E-excuse," she began, but Mint cut her off.

"EXCUSE YOU, SIR!" the girl shouted so she could be heard over the still continuing sirens. The man glanced over his shoulder at Mint, regarding her with angry eyes. Immediately she recognized him as the man she had kicked in the shin earlier that day. Had he done that on purpose? A deep anger flared within Mint. She had been through _way_ too much to deal with rudeness.

Clenching her fists and grinding her teeth, she thought of all the things that had been pent-up inside her:

She wanted him apologize. She wanted those stupid sirens to stop. She wanted to find Ichigo so she could scold her. She wanted to go get Pudding and let the poor girl cry like she needed to. She wanted to go home. She wanted to sit down and drink some tea. She wanted a hot shower. She wanted a change of clothes. She wanted to sleep in her nice, warm bed. She wanted the aliens to stop trying to take over the planet so she didn't have to deal with hostage situations like this every other month.

They hadn't even been able to find Aubrie or Aoyama in any of the medical tents that they passed through. They didn't know enough English to even ask the people collecting all the files if they had been in the tents. They had left Pudding by herself for hours waiting for a call that may or may not come because they were worried that she might have gotten lost among the bustle. They had to deal with rude people like this police officer who kept thinking that they were victims and kept pestering them with questions. They had been thrown off the grounds twice for not being victims. They had been caught by the press both times and were pestered with more questions. They were positive that Ryou and Akasaka would find the video of Mint cussing under her breath in annoyance and frustration as they pushed their way past the cameras. Mint was positive Lettuce would never get over hearing her cuss; it was not a very ladylike thing to do, and she could only hope that no one at her mansion would ever see the clip. They had had to sneak back into the rubble twice. They were tired, frustrated, and just all around disappointed.

And now they had to deal with the evil look the police officer was giving them. Mint dared him to try and throw them off of the premises. She dared him. He just continued to stare at her as she spoke roughly in Japanese. If he did anything, she would kick him again, only in a more sensitive area like Aubrie had done to the cop earlier. She was ready, and annoyed.

But the cop just walked away. Mint watched him go, his broad back disappearing into one of the many tents. Yeah, she told herself, I thought so. Grabbing Lettuce's glasses off the ground, she handed them her friend. Helping the fellow Mew up, she sighed. It was time to go back and get Pudding. Together they'd try to figure out what to do next. Right now it seemed like they couldn't rely on help from the Café.

They began to flit in and out of the traffic surrounding them, working their way back towards the clock face. Several times they had to duck behind piles of steel and plaster to avoid being seen by the rescue team. There was no doubt if they were caught again that they'd be thrown out, again. The press would have a field day if they were caught another time; the Japanese embassy might even be pulled into it.

Mint stopped for a moment, her mind processing.

"The Japanese Embassy!" Mint gasped, grabbing Lettuce's arm to stop her as well. "After we get Pudding we'll go to the Japanese Embassy! I don't know what they can do for us, but maybe we can contact Akasaka!"

Lettuce smiled; the first sign of hope Mint had seen from the girl all day. Without saying anything else they hurried along, sliding across the broken plaster to the clock face. Pudding needed to hear this; she needed some kind of hope.

But they would never get to tell her their plan.

"Down!" Lettuce cried, pressing her hand into the center of Mint's back. Crying out in surprise, the blue-haired girl didn't have enough time to put her arms out in front of her to break her fall. Landing face first on the ground, she got a mouthful of dirt and a cut on her cheek from a piece of twisted metal near her.

"Lett–"

Something flew over Mint's head, slamming into a wooden post sticking up near them. Shock filled Mint's body, causing her heart to skip a beat. After a moment she turned, wide eyed, so she could see what had breezed past her. Fear hit even deeper than the shock.

Thrown with such force that it was sticking horizontally out from the wood was a single dual sword. It was at the level where Mint's head used to be. If Lettuce hadn't… The Mew bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes.

She couldn't even continue the thought.

The day just couldn't go the way Mint had wanted it to, could it? More than ever she wanted some tea. She would even deal with that rude policeman if it meant she could go home. But it wasn't the time to think.

Kisshu had just tried to kill her.

Whispering the words to herself, Mint felt the tug of the wings coming out of her back. Jumping up as the blue light surrounded her, she turned to see the green-haired alien standing there. He seemed to be disappointed, a pout plastered on his face.

"You moved!" he complained, spinning his other sword around his index finger. "How am I supposed to immobilize you if you keep moving around like that?"

A green light exploded, and Lettuce was standing next to her. They glanced at each other, drawing their weapons. This was their chance to get information. Aubrie and Aoyama might be missing, but Kisshu knew even more than they did. He _would_ tell them what happened to Ichigo. He _would _tell them why Big Ben had collapsed. He _would_ tell them why he had been fighting with the Blue Knight.

He would, because once he did, the Mews' seemingly endless day could finally come to a close.

"Ribb-on," they began in unison.

"Hey now, is that any way to treat the person who brought you all a present?" Kisshu asked, holding up his single sword. A small smile played on his lips; his golden eyes were filled with delight.

"Mint ECHO!"

"Lettuce RUSH!"

The green and blue lights collided, sending an explosion into the air. They had used their anger in their attacks; their desperation. They could only pray that the bursts of pure energy had made contact; that Pudding had seen them, and was running to help.

* * *

Aubrie had seen the light of their attacks. She paused, looking towards the direction where it had come from. Pain ripped through her chest; she'd been too late! Turning towards the direction of the blue and green lights, she pushed off again.

But that single, yellow light that came from the opposite direction of the others had the woman pause again, her blood running cold. Immediately she connected the color of their hair to the light of their attacks. She thought of the elementary school girl, fighting by herself. Why the hell did the other two leave that poor girl alone? Her legs moved on her own, before she could even process what was happening. More motivated than ever, she turned, and forced herself through the pain towards the clock face.

She didn't know if she could hold off one of those flying people, or even help the girl, but it didn't matter. That girl had no right to be facing this alone.

* * *

**So… Does that answer some of your questions? Though there are still many, many more inquiries to be filled, at least you know where Mint and Lettuce were and why they left Pudding.**

**I hope you enjoyed it! Next post: that favorite Chapter of mine!**

**So, until next time, read and review!**

**(I didn't mean to be so cruel, Ally Marton! I feel bad to leave you all for so long without answers! I promise to complete this story this time around!)**


	23. Chapter 23

**I've seriously taken the past two weeks or so to write, rewrite, read, rewrite, cut, and read again this chapter. I was having such a hard time writing the beginning of it. I had to tie in Aubrie's part to what I'd already written, and then I was unsure, and blah blah blah…**

**On the bright side, because of that, it's a very long chapter.**

**And I know EXACTLY where I'm going with it. Bonus!**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 23 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

Even before she had reached the clock face, Aubrie knew she had run into the middle of a very heated battle. As light burst forth all around her, she realized that she was standing behind the little elementary school girl. Despite having seen the monkey ears and tail before, her heart still skipped a beat from surprise.

What unfortunate event had gripped that young girl for her to turn out this way?

As she pondered this, the figure the girl was fighting took notice of her. His silhouette floated high above the ruins, framed against the night sky. Energy sparking from his fingertips, lighting up his face amongst the shadows. Their eyes met, a demented smile twisting his boyish face. Aubrie was immediately paralyzed by fear, knowing this was not the teenager from earlier.

There were more than one of them.

She couldn't move as the ball of energy came flying towards her. Suddenly she became very aware of her senses. The taste of smoke coated her tongue; her breathing was heavy from sprinting; blood dripped down her leg from her throbbing cut.

A streak of yellow flew in front of her.

Heat blew up against the woman's face. Her hair was singed; she could smell it burning. The little girl in front of her had her arms crossed protectively in front of her face. Shining rings, one in each hand, sparked with their own energy.

The girl glanced over her shoulder at the paralyzed woman.

Her eyes were full of sheer happiness.

* * *

In that moment, Pudding knew what true hope felt like. A warm sensation filled her chest; she felt invincible. Her eyes set with sheer determination, she turned to face Taruto.

He seemed disappointed; his eyes were steadily being filled with hate.

"So you'll protect a single one of your own kind," he spat, "but you won't consider helping an entire civilization?" Venom layered his voice. Pudding felt the words stab her heart. It was simple logic that even a child could understand.

"We'll protect anyone who doesn't want to hurt us!" the little Mew shot back. Her grip tightened on her weapons.

"And what does that protection get you?" the little alien demanded. "All it does is buy you more time to destroy this planet! Why would you protect the humans who are killing the endangered species you're bonded with!"

Pudding's tail twitched. She became unsure, but opened her mouth to find a reason.

"People just need more time to learn how to take care of the Earth, and then they'll–"

"They'll what?" Taruto demanded. "They'll just ignore it like they've ignored our history on this planet? Humans never learn anything! Even that stupid hag couldn't learn how to behave!"

The little Mew's blood ran cold.

Her voice cracked as she asked, "What did you do with Ichigo onee-san?"

"Nothing that you can fix!" Taruto laughed menacingly, holding up the syringe. Suddenly the sample on her armband became worthless. Every hope she had was crushed once again. She wanted to cry; she wanted to scream.

Her eyes drifted to the spot where the Blue Knight had lain. Then she turned slightly, looking at Aubrie. She could feel the warmth of her ears; her tail curled at her will.

Everything had seemed impossible, but…

The strength returned to the girl's eyes. She raised her chin, looking Taruto directly in the eyes.

"We're going to get Ichigo onee-chan back," Pudding cried, "and then we're going to make sure you leave our planet alone!"

"Your planet!" Taruto cried, "What about our planet! You know why I despise all you humans so much! Do you want to know why!" His eyes blazed with fire, wearing such an expression of rage and pain that should never appear on a child's face. Pudding didn't even pause during her attack; Aubrie was standing behind her, she needed the little Mew's protection.

"Ribb-on," Pudding began, raising her arms, "Pudding Ring…"

"IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL SELFISH!" the little alien screamed at the top of his lungs. He had paused for a moment so he could shout it; the little girl took aim.

"INFERNO!"

The attack hit him dead-on in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the standing half of the clock face. His force of impact caused the remaining piece to crumble; the hour hand dented in the middle. Pudding's brown eyes widened, and she lowered her rings.

"Taruto…" she gasped, a pain stabbing in her heart. She'd never actually hit him full force with her attack before. Her attacks had only ever truly been used on Chimera Anima, but that was to free people. It was the first malicious act she had ever committed. She had done it to someone she considered to be her friend; the only other person who shared the weight of her responsibility. They were just kids, and they were being forced to battle against one another.

In that moment, she was overcome with emotions she wasn't sure how to handle. She wanted to run to him, to make sure he was okay. She wanted to apologize for hitting him. She wanted to give him candy as a gift as a reminder that they were friends. They didn't have to fight; they could both just go play. They could laugh. They could be normal.

But that would be ignoring her responsibility. Right now, Pudding had to protect Aubrie. It was her responsibility to make sure that no human ever got hurt by an alien. She hadn't asked for this responsibility, but she had chosen to accept it. So she did not move; she stood her ground. She wasn't normal, she was Mew Pudding.

Taruto wasn't a friend, he was an enemy.

The enemy had begun to collect himself. Pushing his bruised body away from the rubble, anger flared deep in his eyes. Looking directly at Pudding, Taruto shouted once more.

"You all have to stop acting like you're the only ones that matter!" Pain was overriding every other emotion in his voice. "We wouldn't be here if we had a choice!"

"But why did you have to take Ichigo onee-san!" Pudding cried, fighting back tears, "Why did you have to kill the Blue Knight!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Taruto cried, seeming to fight back his own tears. "I know you just want to play, and not fight, but this is the way it has to be!"

Suddenly an explosion rocked the ground zero of the clock tower. Smoke billowed out in a mushroom-shaped cloud in the distance. Pudding crossed her arms in front of her face, bracing herself for the impact. Still, the shock wave washed over her, sending her flying back into Aubrie's waiting arms. Suddenly she was on the ground, the woman's body covering her protectively. The large hands pushed down on her head, making sure she stayed beneath the human shield. Rubble all around them had begun to slide around. Piles disintegrated within an instant, raining down upon them in sharp shards.

For a moment, sound didn't exist.

Pudding could feel the screams that resounded in the world around them. She could feel Aubrie's racing heart pressed against her back. She could feel the ground crumble beneath her give way even further. She could feel her heart stop from fear.

For a moment, she could feel her own death.

Then the sound came rushing back. Sirens, having taken a deep breath, resounded off the rubble with full force. Crackling flames soared through the ruins, popping and bursting with energy. The buried screams burst for with new life.

For a minute those sounds exploded in her mind. She didn't look around; she didn't try to sit up. In the warmth of the shield, she felt calm. She felt safe. Despite what had happened, as long as she was within that embrace, everything was alright.

But reality burned.

Suddenly Pudding felt herself being freed. Through the smoke billowing around her, she could see a hand extended. She took it, switching both rings to one hand. As she stood, she saw the flames begin to spread rapidly through the ruins. They began to eat their way across the ground towards them. The clock face had disintegrated into the light.

Pudding was shaking so badly that she dropped her weapons, her only defense. Slowly she collected them, her fingers twitching. The warm comfort of the hand around hers brought tears to her eyes. Cradling it, she pressed it to her face.

Things may still end up okay.

The rubble near them started to shift. Pudding turned immediately, pushing Aubrie behind her. Still, she held her hand. The little girl would never let go of that comfort. Opening her mouth, she began to form the words to her attack.

But she stopped.

The brown, defeated eyes of her enemy stared out at her pitifully, lit up by the light of the fires. Slowly, he pushed himself out of the rubble. Flames had begun to encircle him. The heat made him perspire; it dripped into his eyes. He still held the syringe in one hand, but in the other he was a ball of bright energy. He held it up threateningly.

Aubrie's hand began to squeeze tighter and tighter around the little girl's. She was terrified; the ruins were alight with red flames that reached high into the sky. Both moon and stars were no longer visible through the smoke that rose. The extreme heat around us caused the woman to feel as though she herself were being devoured by the flames. With every crack and pop that came from the burning, Aubrie jumped, her eyes sweeping around wildly.

The little girl beside Aubrie stayed calm, realizing that now she was the one holding the woman's hand. Her brown eyes were set forward, fixed on the small form standing in the center of the flames.

Taruto's words echoed inside her mind.

_Of course I had just wanted to play_, Pudding thought to herself, raising her weapon as the alien raised his. _That's all I ever wanted to do._

The ball of energy rose up out of his palm. Pudding let go of Aubrie's hand, replacing it with one of her rings.

_I just wanted to play and not have to worry about my mother in the hospital. I just wanted to play and not have to take my mother's place. I just wanted to play and not have to see my father off at the airport as he basically abandoned my family, leaving just like mom did._

The energy was thrown. Pudding deflected it, sending it flying up into the sky like a flare. It disappeared into the smoke.

_I just wanted to play and not have to learn all those performance tricks as a way to gain an income. I just wanted to play and not have to have the responsibility of defending the world against monsters. I just wanted to play and not have to hide my tears. I just wanted to play because I'm a kid._

A wind had picked up, spreading the flames further and further across the destruction. Aubrie had begun to shout at Pudding, but the little girl didn't hear her. Her eyes were still fixed on the form that stood among the floating embers.

"Do you really think that Pudding wouldn't understand?" the Mew asked quietly, the wind blowing back her bangs to show the mark on her forehead.

Suddenly the sensation of being torn apart hit the girl in her chest. Gasping, she recognized the feeling immediately.

She was being transported back to Tokyo.

A scream ignited from the sensation. In horror, Aubrie stared at her hand that had begun to shift in and out of existence. Stumbling backwards, she began to run. As she ran, the grip of the transport began to leave her.

"No!" the little Mew cried, using the only English word she knew. Aubrie _had_ to be taken back to Tokyo; she knew what happened at the clock tower! She had been there when the Blue Knight disappeared!

In a split second all of Puddings moving particles were smashed back together. She flew backwards, electricity ripping through her body. A pile of mangled steel caught her; the little girl cried out in pain as she heard something snap. Everything in front of her turned red and blood roared in her ears. She couldn't move her left arm.

Someone was over her, but she couldn't see straight to get a good look at them. Their small hands gently grabbed her left arm as it hung useless at her side. She cried out in pain as something sharp dug into her arm. Her vision had grown darker; she was passing out.

"Why, na no da?" Pudding asked as she slipped into the darkness. It wasn't desperate; she just wanted to know.

"I told you," a faraway voice responded, "You wouldn't understand."

The last thing Pudding was aware of was a single drop of water dripping down onto her face.

She wasn't the one crying.

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**...**

**..**

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**So, how'd you like this favorite chapter of mine?**

**(I felt like after that ending I shouldn't get into my comments immediately.)**

**Taruto plays a very, very serious role in this chapter. I know he's a little kid, so some of what he's saying is pretty mature, but you just have to imagine what he's been through. Like Pudding, his situation caused him to grow up very quickly.**

**I really like the clash of logic and emotion in this, which is why it's my favorite! Though, I'm still not very happy with the beginning… Oh well! If I can think of something better, I'll rewrite it and let you know!**

**Next time will be the answer to the question about…**

**Nah, I'll be mean and not tell you. ^_^ **

**If I told you, then, having read this story for so long, you may guess where I'm going with it. In case you haven't really noticed, I don't exactly like people being able to tell what's coming in the next chapter.**

**That's just the way I do things.**

**But it keeps you interested, doesn't it?**

**So, until next time, read and review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Another answer. ^_^**

**And one that is definitely last minute.**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 24 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"!**

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She had seen it on the news.

As the reporters covered the countless stories surrounding the collapse of Big Ben, she had seen it. At first she had paid no attention to the small coverage. She was working; it was important to concentrate on smiling, not a rising death toll. That personality within her had to be unlocked, she couldn't worry about terrorists. All she had to care about was opening herself up to the world; she had to let it see the flaws she didn't want those closest to her to discover. Everything was a front; she wasn't a happy person, she didn't like to smile. How could someone be serious when they were smiling?

That is why, when the true reality of the situation came crashing down around her, the smile faded.

It began with the familiar voice blasting through the studio. Someone had turned up the television to hear over the constant murmur of employees; the clicking of cameras; the rolling wardrobe carts. She paused, turning her head as the makeup artist took off her heavy makeup. They were just about to wrap up for the day.

A deep fear hit her in the pit of her stomach; she was overwhelmed with anxiety.

"Would you excuse me for a moment?" she asked politely, slipping out of the chair. Dodging back and forth between the people, her eyes became distant, serious. Where was that TV?

Then she saw it, the faint glow. She physically pushed pass one of the photographers, an act of rudeness she would have never done while she was working. But she was too concentrated on the screen. She ran towards it, eyes not even reading the scrolling text on the bottom. Though she had already heard the voice, an electric shock ripped through the woman.

Her wide purple eyes took in the two familiar faces on the screen.

"Mint-san!" Zakuro cried, watching the dust-covered, bleeding Mew push her way through the crowd. She pulled a green hair girl along with her, forcing their way through the crowd of cameras that swarmed them. "Lettuce-san!"

"You know those girls?" the photographer she pushed by asked, disbelief showing in his voice. He watched as the two Japanese girls fought against a very different kind of paparazzi.

"Yes, sir," the Mew said, the politeness brought on by her working environment coming back to her. But her eyes never left the screen. It took less than a second to process the gravity of the situation. If the Mews were there, then that meant the aliens had something to do with the collapse of the clock tower. And if that's where the aliens were, that's where she needed to be.

Her fingers began twitching, an annoyance of not being told revealing itself. She got over it quickly. It was her job to hide her true emotions after all.

"Would it be alright, sir," the model asked, turning to the head photographer, "if I were to leave now?" She couldn't even let the smile return. "If I am not needed here, that is."

The photographer paused for a moment, thinking. His eyes drifted back to the television screen. The audio had been cut off so a news reporter could speak. However, from reading the blue-haired girl's lips it was clear that she was not happy about the situation. He was bemused by the thought that the kind and caring model appeared to be on close terms with that girl.

"I suppose you could leave if it is a dire emergency," the photographer said, drawing out his words. "But may I ask where you are going?"

"London," Zakuro said, her eyes determined. She disappeared into the crowd before the man could say anything else. More amused than ever, he turned back to the news cast. His eyes ran over the scrolling text, educating the man about the rising death toll. After a minute he turned to go back to work.

The photographer only caught a peripheral glance of the brown-eyed Japanese boy that walked past the camera.

His blank stare could only be described as haunted.

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**I hope you caught the importance of the last line.**

**It was a last minute decision to add him into this chapter, I'll admit that.**

**If you're screaming from anger just look at the top of the page and remind yourself that this is listed as an Ichigo/Kish story.**

**This chapter was actually longer, but I couldn't get the rest of it to sound right… Once I get the second part all prettied up I'll post it as Chapter 25.**

**And now, to something unrelated!**

(Sorry if you thought this chapter was extra long!)

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**Actually, ever since I began reading from years ago I've been wanting to write a "do and do not" guide for fan fiction. There are just too many things that I see that bother me about some of the stories that people write on here.**

**I know, I know, it's their/your story and they/you can write whatever you want. I get it; I wouldn't want anyone telling me how to write my story. But, I feel that some of the things I've put into this can help authors. These are all the things that I've considered when writing "Tears of a Mew Mew".**

**I know I should consider that these might seem worthless to you if you hate the way I write the story. But at the same time, why would you still be reading my story if you hated the way I deliver it?**

**Breezyfeather, this mainly goes out to you, since you said that you were working on being able to write like me. I hope that these tips are helpful to you! Still, I want you to remember that everyone has their own writing style. It's what makes us all unique! ^_^**

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**Waterwitch12's tips to a good story and writing style****:**

NEVER start out every sentence with the same word. Use variety. The only reason you should use the same word is if you're trying to make a point. The parallel structure works fairly well for dramatic effect.

NEVER reveal the entire plot within the first chapters. Just give out a rounded idea. If you fill in too many of the details early on, readers will get bored and you will have to stick to a certain frame for your story. This leaves little room for creativity.

NEVER let the villain clearly state their intentions. The key to having a good villain is having a good background story. Never let the villain introduce themselves as, "Hi, my name is _ and I'm doing this because of _." I honestly just read the first chapter of a fan fiction that did that, and I closed out of it immediately. There's absolutely no fun in understanding their intentions right off the bat. You need to keep the readers guessing.

NEVER reveal new characters in general introduction of, "Hi, my name is _ and I'm doing this because of _." Keep the readers guessing!

NEVER force a love onto characters without some kind of development to it. You can't just expect two characters who've always hated each other to immediately fall in love and then want to… yeah. There has to be some kind of development, and especially reasons behind it. Even if the love is already there it is still subject to development.

NEVER repeat yourself! If you repeat a certain idea again and again and again… It just gets boring. Only repeat things as a refresher on a certain subject, or if you're trying to make a point. But, if you're trying to make a point, at least try to rephrase it. Try not to repeat quotes, too! Even if what they said is REALLY important, overusing it will just make people annoyed.

ONLY use flashbacks if they're necessary. Don't have some random flashback in the middle of the chapter if it's not REALLY important. If you tell the story from different characters' points of view then flashbacks may not be necessary.

NEVER immediately introduce which character's point of view you are writing from. If it's a familiar character, then people should be able to figure it out easily if you're doing it correctly. If it's a villain or new character, then keeping their identity masked is a good idea. By adding a physical description (for the villain or new character) you can have them appear in the background of other chapters. The readers will know who they are. It will help add suspense or mystery to your story.

ALWAYS treat characters you came up with yourself with care. You don't want to create a character that contradicts with the story. Creating a new rival is always interesting, but you have to deeply consider their past and reasons for being a rival. You need to consider the role of the character within the already developing story. I find it easier to fit in a character where there is one needed. (For "Tears of a Mew Mew" I needed a kind of insider on the destruction at Big Ben, so I created Aubrie.)

ALWAYS REMEMBER that character you created will need more explanation than the already existing ones. The readers are unfamiliar with their physical features, capabilities, and personalities. However, DO NOT (another thing I can't stress enough!) introduce these in ye old basic way. "His hair was _, his eyes _, he was _ tall." Describe them through their movement! "His _ hair shone in the sun as his back arched. The thick muscles in his neck constricted as he tensed, the blast of energy flying past him. With perfectly honed reflexes he responded, throwing out his longs arms to retaliate against his enemy." In the same way, describe their clothing. Or, don't describe their clothing. I find that I don't describe it until it's necessary, like if it is ripped from an attack, or plays a certain part in what's going on. DO describe the clothing if it is inappropriate for the occasion/weather. If it is winter and your created character is wandering around in shorts and a t-shirt there's a story behind that. Explore it.

ALWAYS REMEMBER there is a purpose behind every action a character makes, and every word a character says. Everything from the way a person stands to how they pronounce certain words help reveal their personality. If a character has a complex personality, show it through your writing style!

ALWAYS REMEMBER a character's past is VERY important! I really can't stress this enough! This contributes hugely to a character's personality, and how things may affect them differently. If something interesting happens within your story that you know will play off of a character's past, work with it! You can't always expect the readers to understand the connections you are going to make. Things WILL need explaining.

ALWAYS REMEMBER that age is key. Unless it is in a character's personality or past, you cannot expect an elementary age student to understand the complexities of love, war, and technology. In turn, people of an older age should understand more than the younger characters, and should show a clearer level of maturity and sensitivity to subjects.

ALWAYS REMEMBER that you don't need to wrap everything up on a certain subject in a single chapter. Cliff hangers are a good thing! AS LONG AS THEY AREN'T OBVIOUS CLIFFHANGERS! Don't make things too obvious! There's nothing worse than figuring out what happens next before it actually happens.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS IMPORTANT! Another thing I can't stress enough! Just like the way everything a character does is important, the adjective in descriptions and tone of your writing contributes greatly to the story. Don't write worthless things! If something doesn't help move the plot along, it is worthless. Don't have some random fight scene, don't add random fluff here and there; everything needs a stable base to it, a good explanation. You COULD have two characters randomly fighting in one chapter, and then in a later chapter let the readers know that they do something like fight every day to help the other grow stronger. BUT GO DEEPER THAN THAT! The characters could fight each other every day to help the other grow stronger BECAUSE their constantly chased after assassins BECAUSE their family has banished them BECAUSE… It can just go on and on!

ALWAYS REMEMBER to correct your grammar before posting a chapter. You don't want to seem stupid! Always watch out for the "your" and "you're" mistakes that are WAY too common. That, along with the "its" and "it's".

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**I hope you all find this helpful! I'm not trying to be criticizing if any of the "do not" sections appear in stories you have written, I'm just trying to help you. You don't have to take any of this advice if you don't want it.**

**Well, 'til next time, read and review!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry this took so long to post! I know that 21 days is kind of pushing it…**

**It's short, but you'll know why once you get into it. I can only reveal but so much at once. ^_^**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 25 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

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She hadn't meant to start the fire; the explosion. Sparks flew from her fingertips, a strange power she hadn't been able to recall ever using. The words rolled off her tongue, vague yet pulling something up deep within her.

And she cried.

She stood, in front of the two broken forms, tears rolling down her face. They captured the soot, the smoke, the ashes of broken souls, and fell onto her clothing.

Black.

It was such an ugly color, yet that was all she was seeing. Black smoke, black buildings, black shadows.

They were the only spots of color that entered her vision. Their brightly colored outfits were blue and green stains on her memory. Those girls, those Mews; they were members of the team she used to be a leader of. And she had just wiped their existence from this earth. Flames licked high all around them, devouring their clothing, singing their hair, boiling the blood within their stilled veins.

It was truly a glorious sight.

But she cried.

"Hey, Kish," the pink-haired girl asked, hands moving up to wipe away the tears as she watched the flames encircle the two forms. Blood and soot smeared into violent streaks as she wiped.

"Yes, Kitten?" Kish asked, retrieving one of his swords. Blood coated its blade, and he cleaned it off on his pants as he watched the bonfire. With his tired eyes he noticed the tears running down Ichigo's face.

"What do you think happens to a person when they die?"

Her voice cracked as the words escaped her lips, her watery eyes fixed on the fire.

The Mews' clothing had burned to the point that the bright colors no longer existed; they turned black as the night that surrounded the two forms. It didn't matter though, because the colors would always be in Ichigo's memory along with their shocked faces; the betrayal.

Now they knew what she had felt.

"I hear that humans go somewhere nice when they die; somewhere full of nothing but light," Kish said quietly, his arms encircling her. He turned her face away from the sight. Even he averted his eyes from the two forms.

"Oh," the girl said, burying her face into Kish's chest. He smelled of smoke and the metallic tinge of blood. It wasn't his blood; he hadn't been hurt at all during the battle.

For some reason that made her cry even harder.

"Let's go back, now," Kish said, feeling his shirt become damp, knowing that they could come back for the bodies later. Ichigo nodded, but she didn't bring her head up. Almost immediately he felt his molecules began to fade in and out of existence as they began to transport. Neither of them mentioned her tears, because they both knew why she was crying.

After all, Ichigo had to keep some of her original memories. She needed them; the emotions ran too deep for them to simply be cut out. All the computers and drugs in the world couldn't erase true friendship; it could only alter it into something that ran just as deep:

Hatred.

But even that hatred was not enough to stop the inevitable.

The bodies would disappear long before Kish could come back to retrieve them.

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**..**

**...**

**I know it may seem as though I am just trying to mess around with you lately, but this chapter is actually really, really important. Think about it, read it again if you want to.**

**Just let it sink in.**

**I hope you don't get too mad or frustrated. If you do, complain about it in your review. I'll be reading them and looking for any of your questions to answer in the coming chapters.**

**Well, 'til next time (which hopefully won't be too long), read and review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**All stories I write have a happy ending. **

**Sometimes the characters just have to get through hard times to get there.**

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The door wouldn't open; the English sign claimed that the café was closed.

Zakuro didn't move her hand from the door knob. On the way over in the cab she couldn't stop herself from twitching from apprehension. No one was answering their phones; they were either out of range or disconnected. The pendants weren't working; the connection had somehow been cut.

And then this.

Her hand was in a white-knuckled grip on the curved metal. Somewhere in her mind everything had shut down. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

Then she saw it; she felt it. A light erupted from the inside of the café; an electric shock ripped through her hand. She let go of the door knob, stumbling backwards on the steps. Throwing her arms up to shield her eyes, she felt a tremor go through the ground.

Then it was all over.

It took less than a second for Zakuro to decide to kick down the door. All of the pent-up energy was overwhelming her; her mind was moving too fast to process any thoughts. The double doors flew off of their hinges, both of them flying into the darkness of the interior. She heard them make contact with the furniture inside; chairs and tables were scattered everywhere.

Suddenly an alarm started to blare. Of course Ryou would have the café set up with alarms. Not that Zakuro cared, of course.

"Ribbon… Zakuro Spear!"

The alarms were silent. Zakuro flew over the chairs, table, and doors, her ears poking out of her purple hair. She held her weapon even though she was not transformed. Her tail twisted to help her land. On all fours she took two bounds into the kitchen and turned towards the stairs.

Her mind went into high alert when she saw the basement door wide open. Taking one, huge bound, she flew, her hands and feet not even touching the stairs.

And she came face-to-face with a girl soaring up the stairs.

Zakuro only had one second to process the fear and surprise in the other woman's brown eyes before their heads slammed together. Both girls letting out a pained cry, the two tumbled down the stairs, hitting every step on the way down. Skidding to a halt on the tile, Zakuro somehow managed to land underneath the woman. She felt her tail crushed underneath the weight, and she cried out in pain, squeezing her eyes shut.

When she opened them a pair of green eyes was staring at her. They looked amused almost. The grey cat was regarding her with an expression that basically said, "Really? The world famous model just took a header down the basement stairs?"

Suddenly the expression was gone; the pain and desperation returned to the eyes. Zakuro noticed the heavy metal collar that held the cat's eyes down at her level. An alarm sounded in her mind.

How long had Ryou been a cat?

But, more importantly, who was this woman on top of her?

"Excuse me," Zakuro said, not entirely sure how to handle the situation. "But can you please get off of me?"

Instead of a response, the woman screamed, scrambling away from Zakuro. In the process, the model got a foot to her face. This jerked her head in the direction of the bloody pool on the floor. The form of Akasaka lay against the wall. His eyes were half-way open.

"Zakuro-san," he said, a small smile forming on his face. "How nice to see you." His eyes were tired, his hair had fallen out of its perfect ponytail and dragged through the blood on the floor. Bandages were being clutched to his stomach. A small vial of liquid sat empty next to him.

"Akasaka-san," Zakuro gasped, fear striking her heart. Her voice was drowned out by the woman's screams though. The woman had tried to make another break for it, but upon standing she collapsed against the computers. Zakuro noticed a small trickle of blood coming down one of the woman's legs. Then her eyes were drawn to the computers.

Every screen but one was black. That screen showed a map of London; she recognized it from a map she owned from her own trip to the city for work. Three coordinates were marked, flashing green to display successful transport. The fourth point was solid red, the warning of a lost signal.

The black screens showed reflections of the room. There were two smoking forms behind Zakuro. Suddenly the smell of burning reached her; it made her stomach turn. Immediately she knew who they were. She was too scared to turn around; her eyes were locked onto the screen.

Suddenly, one of the forms began to shift. Her head turned ever so slightly, her eyes being captured in the reflection.

"P-please stop screaming," a faint voice stuttered, barely audible above the woman's shrieks. The voice was weak, tired. Zakuro jumped to her feet, spinning around.

"Lettuce!" she cried, leaping to her side.

"Zakuro-san," the girl said weakly, her eyes too tired to show surprise. Her long, green hair was matted; her clothes burnt to the point where the colors were unrecognizable. The castanets she possessed were locked in between her fingers.

"O-onee-sama," another faint voice called. Immediately Zakuro's eyes were locked on the blue-haired girl near her. The colors of her outfit were far beyond unrecognizable; there was barely any of her outfit left. Her bare stomach glared up at the older Mew, smeared with ash. Mint's bow was tucked protectively underneath her arm. Her eyes couldn't even open the whole way.

But there wasn't a single burn on her. There wasn't a single burn on Lettuce.

"Ryou," Akasaka's voice said weakly, reaching for the empty bottle, "you were right. They really did need the antidote."

Zakuro's mind, which was already overloaded, had just stopped processing altogether. The woman near the computers had stopped screaming. The sudden silence surprised the Mew; she felt as though, for that one single moment, everything made complete sense. Looking over at her, Zakuro noticed that she had fainted. Her body was splayed out on the floor, leg creating a small pool of blood near her.

"That must be Aubrie," Akasaka said, the faint smile never fading. "I'm glad she could make it here. But… Oh, Pudding didn't make it back, Ryou." His eyes became worried, but the smile didn't drop.

"Then I guess the situation turned out the way we expected that it would," Ryou's voice said, calculating. Turning in shock, Zakuro stared at the small gray cat, which had lain down comfortably on the floor.

"I suppose it's time to explain some things," the cat said, meeting Zakuro's shocked eyes.

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**And here is where the answers will come.**

**I'm sorry if I freaked you all out with the last chapter. The reviews I got are what inspired me to write this chapter so quickly. Though a bit of quality may have been lost, I felt the great need to clear things up. I knew you guys would be upset, but I didn't expect it to hurt you so badly by the "deaths" of the Mews. I'm sorry if I've been frustrating you guys. Here is where many of the questions are cleared up.**

**In the next chapter: Why the Mews are okay. Why Ryou can talk. What Aubrie knows. AND (probably the most pending question) whether Ichigo is good or bad.**

**I really look forward to clearing up some of your confusion! If I were going to clear up all of it, then I would forever be explaining things instead of just letting them play out into their own explanations.**

**Please just try to remember that suspense isn't all I'm going at when I write things that are highly dramatic. There is an element there that I want you to discover. That element is a clue as to what is happening. I know you can find it!**

**So, 'til next time, read and review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**What you know so far:**

**Ichigo has been taken by Kish. She was injected with some kind of serum while she was emotionally compromised, which knocked her out. When she woke up she had a complete and utter memory lapse, and had a break down where she destroyed everything around her. In the process she hurt Akasaka. For some yet to be disclosed reason the aliens replaced her memories and turned the friendship she feels towards the Mews into hate. This hate was born from something that happened to Ichigo which involved the Mews. Ichigo believes that she has killed both Lettuce and Mint out of that hatred by accidentally using her Mew powers (Chapter 25).**

**Mint and Lettuce are alive. Upon being transported back to Café Mew Mew it is discovered that the two girls have not suffered any visible injuries from the fight with Ichigo. They appear to be merely suffering from exhaustion. Akasaka mentions that this has something to do with an antidote, which he seems to have used to heal his own wounds from Ichigo. No details about this antidote or its uses have been disclosed.**

**Ryou has been turned into a cat by having stayed in that form for over ten minutes, due to Kish putting a binding metal collar around his neck. This happened when Kish came to pick up Ichigo during her initial break down in the basement of the café. He seems to have gotten some of the computers that Kish destroyed rebooted, and was able to transport the Mews, save for Pudding, and Aubrie back from London. He has regained his ability to speak, though the collar is still on him.**

**Aubrie was at the scene at Big Ben. She was saved by the Blue Knight, though getting her leg hurt in the process, before then providing the Mews with information about the disaster. Aubrie is the one that claims that Kish killed the Blue Knight. Though she is separated from the Mews for awhile, she is able to figure out the general basics of the situation. Knowing she can help them, Aubrie goes and looks for them. While trying to help Pudding, Aubrie is transported back to Café Mew Mew. There she meets Zakuro, but is overwhelmed and passes out.**

**Zakuro has been absent for most of the story. She was mentioned in Chapters 1 and 3, but didn't make an actual appearance until Chapter 24, which explains her absence being attributed to a photo shoot. This was mentioned in Chapter 3 as her going to "work". All she's truly done so far is arrive at Café Mew Mew at the same time that Lettuce, Mint, and Aubrie were transported back to the café. As of this point, she is the only Mew who is healthy enough to fend off any attack, but also the most ignorant about the situation.**

**Pudding has been taken by Taruto. She was injected with the same serum that Ichigo while the little Mew was emotionally compromised over the situation. Her arm was broken in the fight before passing out from the serum. Taruto is very sad over the situation, though he was excited over the change happening to Ichigo. Pudding hasn't been seen since that fight (Chapter 23).**

**The Blue Knight appeared to have been killed by Kish. However, his body disappeared from the sight of the disaster. His regular form, Aoyama, was seen walking with the same blank stare that Ichigo had while she was emotionally compromised. He has not been seen since that appearance on the news (Chapter 24). Neither the Mews nor the Aliens know where he at this point.**

**.**

**Well, there you have it everyone. That's the basic summary, character by character, of what has happened in the past 26 chapters. I hope this helps you guys out as I progressively start to clear up some mysteries. **

**Also, I hope you enjoy the comedy relief at the beginning of this chapter. You guys deserve it. ^_^**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 27 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

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"Ribbon… Zakuro Spear!"

The purple whip streaked out of the woman's hand, lashing violently against the metal collar. For a moment it seemed as though the collar had broken apart. Sparks flew as the metal scorched; the smell of burnt hair erupted in the room.

As the light receded, the whip was pulled back into the cross. But the collar had not budged; the metal retained its shaped. The only thing that had changed was Ryou's fur had caught on fire.

"Put it out, put it out, put it out!" the cat screeched, struggling against the weight of the collar to do his own version of stop-drop-and-roll. It could more accurately be described as a possessed wriggling of his feet and twisting his body while his head stayed in the exact same position.

A cup's worth of boiling tea was luckily poured on him in time to save most of his fur. Aubrie held the cup in mid air, not sure how to proceed as the cat let out a pained screech. The brown coat lent to her covered at up the café uniform she was wearing. Her long hair was pulled up, wet from a shower she'd taken. Fresh bandages wound up her leg while a pain killer was progressively working its way through her system.

It had only been an hour since the group had gotten back together, and things weren't going well.

"Are you okay, Ryou?" Lettuce asked, setting down her own tea. She had taken a shower, her long green hair flowing down around her shoulders making her work uniform damp. Mint had also showered and changed into her work uniform. Once they had transformed back their other clothes had been unsalable, much to Mint's displeasure. That was her favorite dress, or had been anyway before it was ripped, splattered with blood, and covered in smoke and miniscule pieces of rubble.

"I'm fine," Ryou hissed, his hair standing on end while he shook violently like a dog. "Now we know that won't work either. It's strange," he muttered, allowing Zakuro to place him onto the table. "How were the aliens were able to create something as small as this that could withstand all of your attacks?"

"Looks like we'll have to wait until the computers fully reboot," Akasaka said from his end of the table. He had refused to go to the hospital, claiming that as long as the burn did not reopen her would be fine. Zakuro was able to wake Aubrie up long enough for the dazed woman to help take him upstairs. Once provided with a first aid kit Akasaka was able to place a patch over the wound, but still could not move around on his own. "Honestly, I am just thrilled that we were able to get all of you back together."

"Yes, yes, everything's fine except for three things: I'm still a cat, Ichigo's apparently possessed, and Pudding has gone missing," Ryou grumbled, his mood switching back to normal complaints. His head was low to the table due to the collar, his eyes at the same level as Aubrie's chest. She noticed and began to blush immediately, crossing her arms in front of her. Ryou rolled his eyes; like he would actually be thinking about that at a time like this.

"Um, R-Ryou-kun?" Lettuce asked timidly, setting down her teacup, "Um, h-how is it exactly that you can s-speak?" She blushed slightly as though she were asking him a very personal question. It was possible that she too had noticed that when he turned towards her his eyes were at chest-level. The way she crossed her arms would make it appear as she had.

_If I haven't looked at them up until now,_ Ryou thought, a nerve slightly breaking, _then what would make me look at them now!_

"It was an antidote I created," the small cat said, gritting his teeth in annoyance as Lettuce continued to blush deeper while he looked up at her. "Akasaka always carried it with him in case of emergencies like this. It was only able to return my vocal chords to normal, but maybe if we develop it more…" He averted his eyes down to the table, unable to stand the young girl blushing anymore. She was too cute like that.

Ryou felt his own face begin to burn, but simply dismissed it as blood rushing to his head from the strain of moving. Cats couldn't blush; he convinced himself of this.

But that didn't make her any less adorable in his eyes.

The sound of clattering porcelain caused everybody's eyes to turn towards Mint. "How many antidotes do you have?" she demanded. The girl had practically smashed her teacup on the table. Tea sloshed about dangerously in the cup, personifying the rage and confusion the girl was feeling inside of her.

She had been calm throughout the, 'Oh, are you okay?' barrage. She had been calm in the hour they had spent trying out their attacks to see if they could break Ryou's collar. She had been calm through the uncomfortable silence that surrounded the group as everyone progressively put themselves back together, piece by piece. She had even been calm as Aubrie began bawling and crying Pudding's name, which brought the strong girl to the edge of breaking down. But now she needed answers, and she needed them now.

Ryou saw her frustration, his ears falling. Zakuro, the one who knew the least, calmly placed a hand on Mint's shoulder before sitting down next to her. Lettuce, her face still red, bit her lip. Aubrie looked about quietly in confusion, slowly uncurling her arms and placing her hands in her lap. Akasaka just smiled sadly, and opened his mouth to explain.

"We haven't been completely honest with you girls about the situation," he said, looking at each of the Mews in the eyes. "Ryou and I have both been preparing for something like this to happen ever since the Mew project began. The genetic material was never truly… stable."

"So you did this knowing we could die," Mint stated curtly, clasping her hands together tightly underneath the table.

"Not die," Ryou said, looking up at her with calculating eyes, "succumb to your animal instincts. Each one of you has an animal placed inside of you, animals that have long felt terror towards the human race as their own populations were brought near extinction. If the animal and your own DNA did not combine in the correct way, you would still have the same powers as Mews, but…" he trailed off, looking towards Akasaka for the correct words.

"You all would be trying to destroy the human race as well; you would be on the same level as the aliens," Akasaka said, his face scrunching up in pain as he tried to push himself up in his chair.

"So you prepared an antidote to our powers," Zakuro said with no emotion, "something to take away the DNA."

"No, not take away the effects on your DNA," Ryou said, shaking his head stiffly, "once the genetic material is combined, it would mean death to rip it apart again. The antidote itself suppresses the effect the DNA has on you, but only for a short amount of time. Essentially you would lose your powers as a Mew, but it would nothing to repair the DNA within you. Once your DNA is spliced there is nothing we can do."

This sank in for a moment; the Mews were silent and calculating. Aubrie stared at each of them, confused. It was obvious that something important had just been said, but the language did not even enter her mind. She looked about the restaurant, remembering the basic explanation the two men had given her about their organization, Tokyo Mew Mew, and their purpose. Still, it was all too surreal. All she could do was wait until it was her turn to speak.

"W-wait," Lettuce said, her blush slightly receding. "How could this antidote be used to heal us if we weren't b-being spliced? When were we given the a-antidote?"

"The antidote can be used either to take away powers or to lessen the effects of an injury caused by those powers. If the antidote is in your system before you are attacked, then no harm will come to you. If you apply it afterwards then it can only do but so much," the little cat said, glancing over at Akasaka, who was still smiling. "And, as for when you were given it, you had it before you left to search for Ichigo."

"When?" Mint demanded, thinking back to the transport. "You didn't give us anything to drink before we left!"

"I put it in your tea," Ryou said, without shame, nodding at Mint. "I put some into your water bottle," he glanced back at Lettuce, who began to turn red once more.

"I made a cake with some antidote for Pudding," Akasaka added, averting his eyes slightly from the group.

"You drugged us without telling us!" Mint exploded, jumping up. That was the last thing she needed to hear. If this was something they did today, clearly without a problem, then how many other times had they done it? The Mew's trust was beginning to break, little by little.

"No," Ryou said, cutting his eyes at the fuming girl, "We saved your lives without telling you." Mint paused, her face turning red. Slowly, she sat back down, folding her hands tightly in her lap. "I understand why you feel betrayed," Ryou continued, "but at the time we were doing it even I thought we might have been overreacting to the circumstances. But we didn't want to take any chances with your lives; we had to prepare for the worst. Akasaka wanted to tell you, but I felt that you all would lose hope completely before we had evidence as to what was actually happening. Do you understand?"

Each Mew nodded slowly, looking at the gray cat evenly. Ryou sighed; this wasn't the ways things were supposed to turn out. He should've been able to reboot the computers in time; Ichigo shouldn't have been taken so easily, or even changed so easily. How had the tests not registered anything?

"Then what's wrong with Ichigo?" It was Zakuro's first time speaking; she believed she finally had a handle on the situation to begin asking the questions that mattered. They couldn't argue; they were running out of time.

"We believe," Ryou said, looking over at Akasaka, "that the aliens found a way to splice her DNA; to cause a rift between the wildcat genes and her human genes. It is a very small rift; one that would account for her switching over to the alien's side."

"So just enough to make her want to destroy us?" Mint questioned, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Yes," Ryou said, nodding. "Though I am unsure how they were able to perfect the procedure. There had to be a test subject of some kind before they would dare to try it on Ichigo…" His mind wandered off, remembering his own sacrifice. Who would be the one person to separate genes from? Would they risk one of their own...? No, they wouldn't take the risk.

Unless that person wasn't actually on their side.

"Aubrie!" Ryou said suddenly, jerking his head in the woman's direction. Her brown eyes stared at him questioningly as he quickly dragged his collar to face her. In perfect English, the little cat pleaded with her. "You need to tell us what happened at Big Ben; what happened with the Blue Knight?"

**

* * *

**

I hope you all enjoyed the humor in the beginning of the chapter... It made me smile anyway. ^_^

**And there you have it! Sorry, but I'm not going to tell what Aubrie saw at Big Ben in this chapter; I'm breaking my promise. To explain why: I'm on the fourth page of this word document, and I'm writing in size nine font. Yep.**

**But, the answer will be coming soon!**

**_After _we check in on Pudding.**

**Sorry the chapter took so long to come out! Think of it as a Chrismahanukwanzakah present! I plan to be posting again before the 25****th****, so please look forward to it!**

**Well, 'til next time, read and review!**


	28. Chapter 28

The room was dark; the smell of sanitizer stung her nose. Everything she touched was cold, even her own body. A distinct metallic taste had pressed itself onto the roof of her mouth. Trembling, the little girl hid in the corner, gripping two glowing rings in one hand. What were these things again? Her golden eyes would not look down at the rings; her grip tightened.

Did she need them?

Her left arm would not move, could not move. It was drenched with something sticky, awful smelling.

Blood?

She wanted to go home, she needed to go home.

Did she have a home? Had she ever known anything outside of this small room?

The darkness and loneliness felt all too familiar.

Waiting.

But what was she waiting for? Was she waiting for a person, or something much more ominous? Why did her head hurt so much? Was she crying?

Fear.

She was absolutely terrified. The silence had been broken by footsteps; another soul breathing. Holding her own breath, she slowly pushed herself up, rings sparking as they pressed into the floor. The door had begun to creak open; the sudden stream of light blinded her. A tall silhouette stood before her. Their eyes seemed to glow in the light from the hallway that created a halo around their form.

Should she charge? Hide?

Kill.

A whispered command, an instinct, came rushing forth through the two glowing rings. Unfamiliar words escaped from her lips; cold fingers burned as a yellow light burst forth before her. The silhouette was dissolved; the little girl blinded by the light she herself had created.

"Pudding, please don't tell me you've forgotten."

The soft call came from beside her. Arms enclosed around her waist, pulling her close to the darkness. Warmth exploded in the places the little girl was touched, the warmth of contact. Like a mother's arms.

Did she have a mother? No; no, she did not. The pain of loss had not been forgotten. Then who was this person?

Her eyes began to adjust to the light; someone was smiling down at her. Pink eyes lit up with warmth drew her in. She knew this person.

"I-Ichigo o-onee-chan?" the little girl asked, tears still streaming down her face. The cat ears atop the girl's pink hair popped up in excitement.

"Pudding!" Ichigo cried, pulling the girl into a tight hug. Pain erupted in the young girl's left arm, but she couldn't comprehend the pain. All she could feel was the warmth of the embrace, the joy of a person found.

But why had she been trying to find her again?


	29. Chapter 29

So once upon a time there was a little girl whose name does not matter. This little girl believed that everyone has their time of dying. She believed this because she witnessed the time of dying of her parents, and was faced with her own. The people who gave birth to her were lying in the next room, their blood creating fingers that reached for her across the floor. This little girl knew that if she touched the blood that she too would be pulled down into the darkness of death.

But she was not afraid.

It did not matter to her if it were that day, or even the day after. It did not matter if her death came from the end of a gun, or a simple step that she herself took into traffic. It did not matter, because she was not afraid.

At that point in time, staring down the barrel of the gun, the little girl had been given the chance to decide life or death.

She chose neither.

A man with a gun had run from that little girl's home that night, leaving two dead bodies and a third alive. His time of dying would be carried along with the car he stepped out in front of as he hurried to hide the gun in his pocket. Ever since he was little, like the girl in her home, sitting calmly next to her parents, he knew that you must look both ways before crossing the street.

You look once to the left, then to the right, and again to the left.

This man forgot, however, because he could only see the eyes of the little girl inside the home. The oncoming head lights were lost in the blank gaze of a person much younger. He had not spared her out of mercy, out of kindness. In those eyes he had seen something he himself had feared for so long, yet met from the fear he experienced.

In a way that little girl had chosen the man's time of dying; the little girl who had been unable to decide for herself. But she never felt sad, because that man should have known to look left, right, left.

By the time the police had arrived that little girl had begun to cry. Reality had occurred to her; the loss of life was no easy thing to deal with. She cried and cried, though the tears had not been present before. At the time she had not even known of the demise of the man. The little girl had simply waited, knowing that someone would could. Whether it would be that night, the next day, or the week after, someone would come.

All she had to do was wait.

Past the time of the funeral, of the orphanage, of the school days, of the working hours, the little girl grew into a woman. She was still waiting for someone to come, but she did not know who. That someone would come for her in the days, weeks, months, or years that passed lazily by in the street.

One day she walked through the door and looked left, right, left. It was soon to be her time of dying; she felt it as she had the night when she was five. Life or death; the question ran through her mind as she walked towards the silhouette looming over the city.

She still chose neither.

But the people before her did not know the story of the little girl. They did not know that the person who wore their lost leader's work uniform had twice experienced her time of dying. The green eyes of the cat were bidding her to speak, but all she could think was looking left, right, left.

Life or death?

The three girls across from her, thier expressions creating variations of light; the man with a pale face, his bandages bloody; the girl whose uniform she wore; the cat before her, eyes intent; the little girl whose hand she had clasped.

All of them chose neither.

Aubrie smiled, and spoke.

* * *

**Merry Christmas, you guys! ^_^**

**Though I'm sure the story did not progress the way you had wanted, this is my Christmas present to you. To be honest, it is not entirely what I planned, but I feel that it came out nicely. I sat down and told myself that you all needed a present, and the first thing that came to my mind was, "So once upon a time there was a little girl whose name does not matter." I rolled it out from there. At first it was simply going to be a bedtime story Pudding was told, but I like this better. If I do let Pudding be told a story, it will be something much more intricate, I promise. 3**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Have a Merry Christmas!**

'**Til next time, smile!**


	30. Chapter 30

**I hope you find that the two months of waiting was worth it.**

**And so, without further ado, here's Chapter 30 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ichigo onee-chan," the little girl said, staring at the machine above her, "what's going on?" Liquid bubbled in the IV next to her, transferring into her veins through the small needle pressed into her. She had not seen any other person during her time in the metal room. Ichigo herself had brought in the equipment, as well as placed the IV within her. Now, the pink-haired Mew stood above her, smiling.

The little Mew was lying down on a metal table, with sensors pressed onto her temples, wrists, stomach, thighs, and ankles. Beeping erupted in her ears as an electric shock raced through her; the sensors were on and working. A metal arm was above her, aimed directly at her forehead, towards the scar that marked her as a Mew. A needle held by that arm shone menacingly in the light; the sensors indicated a rise in the girl's heart rate.

What was going on? Why was she here?

A warm hand was placed over her eyes, sending the girl into darkness. Sensors sped up for a moment, but then began to progressively calm down.

"It's okay," Ichigo said, her voice sweet and even, "We need to do this. They've hurt you, and we need to fix it." The hand continued to cover her eyes, but a button was pressed. A whirring resounded throughout the room, echoing softly as it kept time with the sensors.

"Who hurt me?" The girl's voice was small; she felt tears build up behind her eyes. She was forgetting something, something important. A chemical smell reached her nose, sending her back in time. A warm smile, a pale face that watched her through kind eyes.

_You're going to have to endure a lot,_ that smile told her. But why did she have to endure? Was there something she had to do?

"It's okay, Pudding," the sweet voice said, overpowering any of her thoughts, "they can't hurt you now. I'll never let them hurt you again. Okay?" The little girl nodded, but the tears remained behind her eyes.

"Now, Pudding, I'm going to tell you a story." The whirring sound grew to its climax. Something sharp and cold pierced the girl's forehead. When she tried to cry out in pain, a wet cloth was been pressed against her mouth and nose. The little Mew found her eyes growing heavy, and her mind silenced.

"It's not a long one," the voice continued, suddenly very far away, "but I think it'll help you remember."

* * *

It hadn't been a fairytale perfect day or even one when lightning ripped through the atmosphere. It had been normal. Horrible things like that always happened on normal days. Strange days were always when life's miracles happened; babies born during perfect storms, a wedding in the climax of a blizzard. Normal days were reserved for the true horrors of this world.

That's why she went to Big Ben that day. There had been that feeling, the ominous feeling that gave select few the insight of the omniscient. The last time she had ignored it two people had died. She knew that there was nothing she could do to stop it; whatever was going to happen had been predestined. But people feel better forcing themselves to believe that they had at least "tried." It was selfish, unavoidable; she paid for the ticket and walked up the stairs.

There was nowhere in particular that she walked. No feeling instructed her to go a certain direction as she so desperately wished would happen. Nothing told her where to find the source of disaster. She paused, holding her hand against her chest. The sense of dread was overwhelming. Looking up, she saw a tour group that had followed closely behind her, filled to the brim with foreigners.

How long would it take before their bodies would be sent back through customs to the waiting families at home? The forms people had to send before leaving, a form stating that your body belonged to the government of your home country. They signed the forms, but to think that they would actually come into use… Would the tears of the ones they loved have already dried, only to be resurrected by the final reminder?

That was the first time that she associated whatever was going to happen with death. It had been implied; she knew it deep within her heart. But to actually think about it, to gain that mental image of blood and lifeless eyes, was truly horrible. The woman was scared, the color drained from her face. Her own life meant nothing if it were to be thrown into the abyss; she had been prepared for that day. But the people around her were someone's loved ones. They had unfinished tasks, promises to fulfill, smiles to hand out.

What right did they have to die? They hadn't felt the fear, the dread, or the numbness afterwards.

These people should not die.

The tears began dripping down her cheeks before she completed her thought. The woman brought her hands up to her mouth to block the scream of horror she felt forming in her throat. She wanted to yell at them to run, to hide, and to call the people they cared about to say, "I love you," that one last time.

It was after a moment that a handkerchief was placed before her teary eyes.

"Here," the soft voice said in accented English, offering it to her with a warm smile. The brown eyes pierced hers, and she began to cry even harder. He had been kind enough to break away from the tour group to help her. That boy had to have someone back at home that cared for him very deeply. Taking the token, she pressed it tightly to her face. She wanted to scream at him to run, to take everyone and escape.

But you can't run from death, you can't hope for any kind of escape. It would always find you. There was no hope, no sun to warm your face.

Always.

"Call your mother, call your girlfriend." The instructions slipped from between her lips before she comprehended the words. His handkerchief was still pressed against her face so he could not see the horror, the fear in her eyes. "Call them, and tell them you love them. Say it enough to last a lifetime."

There was silence between them. She didn't dare look up from the cotton scented cloth. Her breath, his breath, the laughter and chatter of the people around them; such beautiful sounds that would soon end. Somewhere a person, or fate, was plotting to silence the world for that single instant where light overtook everything.

The boy spoke.

"My mother is here with me, but I will tell her." There was a pause, but she did not look up. "I just talked to my girlfriend, but…" A fear struck the woman's heart, she opened her mouth beg him to call her.

That was when the first explosion rocked the clock tower.

The woman fell to her knees, the handkerchief slipping from her eyes. Screams erupted all around her; she could feel the pulses of their feet pounding the floor. But the boy in front of her hand not moved. For a single instant she saw his eyes. Surprise did not grip him, instead he was saying to himself, "So it's happening."

There was a voice that answered his own; one in a foreign language. A devious laugh that spread across the crowd. It was the sound of death knocking; the laugh similar to the man's from that night.

The boy disappeared through the crowd of people. She tried desperately to follow him, crying out to call her. Tears flooded her vision, but her words never stopped.

Call her, call her, CALL HER!

Everything got so messed up as the world erupted in fire and smoke; she didn't know where the boy was or even where she was. So many voices erupted from around her each in their own horror-tinged language; they came from above and below, beside and inside. Her own voice.

Then another's.

Suddenly she was pulled up through the smoke, through the falling rubble, into the shining sky above. The sun blinded her, strong arms around her waist providing no escape. Venomous words were spoken, but she didn't understand. She looked down on the destruction below, and any screams froze within her throat.

London was beneath her feet. If she stretched her legs out far enough, she could walk among the birds and the rooftops. People would look up, gasping and pointing, but she would not look down. She wondered if people who died by falling, by choice or by accident, looked up or down as they went. Either way, if she had to choose, she would look up. Endless sky, to endlessly fall amongst the clouds.

But what would that achieve?

While she looked down, something had happened. The arms released her, forcing her to make a decision. And so she looked up, up towards the silhouette that raced to save her, she remembered something, realized something. Words spoken long ago, lost amongst the shores as the tide washed away the years.

She couldn't die yet.

Different arms reached her and she was safe. Her face was pressed against someone's shoulder; a chemical smell penetrated her nose, and she grew dizzy. Sounds from the world around her penetrated her mind, stirred up her thoughts into incomprehensible images. She tried to look up to the person who held her carefully like a child. Sunlight blocked her vision, it was painful, and she closed her eyes.

The world was so bright.

Through that world a kind voice reached her; the same voice from earlier. It was soft, barely audible above the sirens that began to tear through the streets.

"You don't have to worry about returning the handkerchief," he told her, the accented English almost playful, "you need it more than I do."

She hadn't even realized that the small token was still clutched in her grasp. Once pure white, it was tainted by tears and smoke. Adjusting herself in the safe arms, she tried to see the boy's face. She pushed against his shoulder, trying to turn her body away from him.

Heat erupted from behind them as another explosion went off. She covered her eyes, pulling the handkerchief close to her once again, like the fragile moment that seemed so long ago. The cloth now smelled of chemical.

She never got the chance to tell the boy to call his girlfriend. But she didn't need to.

"To say you love someone isn't an easy thing."

His words reached her through the screams and the sirens; his face now hidden behind the smoke billowing from the freshest scar on the building.

"No matter how sure you are that they care for you, there's always that doubt that something may have changed. The fear of rejection; to know that she cares for someone else more than you…" His words had grown very soft, the anger leaving them completely. "That's what this entire thing is about…"

Another explosion sounded, followed by a scream of anger out amongst the smoke. For a single moment the smoke cleared as the woman looked up. She saw the face, the unfamiliar face of the man holding her. But the eyes were the same, and the voice that gave her his final words:

"It's sad."

The battle continued within the smoke, and he set her down on the ground out of the way. She did not see the clock face fall; she did not see the utter end to the majestic symbol.

To know what something is all about; the reason is worthless unless you can see what happens in the end. She saw the beginning, and she saw the end. But something happened in the very middle, something horrid, which left one man alive and countless others dead. She knew that she would be worthless, but still.

All she had was a stained handkerchief to show for her efforts.

Had she only stopped it in the first place? Had she followed her gut feeling into doing something? Had she pulled the alarm to get everyone out of the clock tower? Had she been brave enough to change fate?

Would any of that have mattered in the end?

The woman paused, looking at the tear-streaked faces before her. His white token had been placed before them, the final reminder.

She finished in saying, "And you know the rest."

* * *

**And so do you. Or as much as I've let anyone other than Kisshu and the Blue Knight know.**

**I have to be honest and say that this isn't one of my favorite chapters, but it was definitely needed. One of the reasons that I put off telling you all what happened at Big Ben was because I could never figure out how I wanted it to go. This was as close to it as I could get.**

**If that made you sad, don't worry! While I was writing this I had one of those author moments where you sit there, gasping, and say, "Oh my gosh if I leave this part out here I can put it in later and it can mean…!"**

**Yeah, that's all I'm giving you. I will tell you, though, that it has to do with Kisshu getting his own narrated chapter. That has definitely been the one I've worked on the longest. Basically it's a document named after him that I add things to every once and awhile. Please look forward to it!**

**Also I'm keeping my promise that the story told to Pudding will be intricate. It has to do with a lot of answers!**

**Oh, before I forget or possibly get questions, the things Pudding is remembering comes directly from the Tokyo Mew Mew episodes. I don't have the number, but if you've seen the show it's the one where Pudding gets sick but still has to take care of all her siblings.**

**Well, in closing, Happy Valentine's Day everybody! I was hoping to give you some kind of love and fluff between Kisshu and Ichigo, but all it ended up was being general statements about love. Please be satisfied with that for now!**

**So, 'til next time, read and review! (Please!)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Well, now that two months have gone by and the largest project of my life is in, let's get back to the story!**

**In response to Ally Marton's comment on Chapter 30, I would like to say this: when you think about it Tokyo Mew Mew has a very serious concept behind it. Yes, they're cute Japanese girls bouncing around in frilly dresses with a complete lack of injuries from seemingly harmful attacks and powers that the authors only gave the most basic of explanations to, but they're fighting for their lives. I guess what I'm trying to say is that through my writing I'm trying to bring it down to a more realistic level. I first began this story in middle school with the simple "what would happen if" and I've run with it from there. To be completely honest every single chapter up until now has been made up at that very moment I decide to sit down in front of the computer. Whenever I do that I just can't think up cute and happy things to write, especially now that I've gotten this deep into the Abyss of what's happening. But I do try to put some meaning behind what I write, and in recent chapters I've added in a bit of symbolism. Aubrie's chapter, the "once upon a time" story, was never actually supposed to develop into something related to this story; it was merely supposed to be a little side note about life and death. My original plan was that I'd add some tag onto it saying, "Please be happy with this short story for now," but it actually created this really sad, deep concept behind her.**

**Okay, sorry, I'm ranting.**

**But to warn you, things are going to get a bit darker before we see the light. I still haven't told you everything that happened at the clock tower. There's an end I want to achieve, and I can only hope to reach it. And to get there this chapter is key.**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 31 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

It was such a human reaction.

After awhile you simply forget sometimes what it simply feels to be human. The awareness that your existence brings into the world; the hand held up to the light of the sun, simply to see the skin crease as fingers move on command. Every breath, every movement, every gesture; they affect the world around you. Through your own will things can change; a reaction so usual it doesn't require thought anymore. This could be as simple as picking up a cup of tea…

Or running to the elementary school child that collapsed just within the front door.

The door had opened, though before they had been sure to lock it. Immediately expecting attack, the Mews pulled out their weapons. Ryou seized the handkerchief in his mouth, ready to run with it if he had to. The chemical smell made him feel dizzy, but he would endure. Akasaka-san couldn't do anything; the best he could do was play dead if need be. Aubrie jumped up, not entirely sure what to do, but wanting to help with more than just information.

"Why are you going to attack me, na no da?"

The soft call came from the blonde head that peaked around the corner. Her hair had fallen from its braids; her arm had been placed in a makeshift sling of some sort. Heavy bags were underneath her eyes, and she'd transformed back into her usual form.

"Why are you…?"

The little girl's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell. Aubrie screamed, being the first one to run to the girl's side. She felt the cut on her leg reopen, but nothing mattered except the girl before her eyes. Zakuro and Mint ran behind her, relinquishing their weapons. Lettuce paused for a second to be rid of her own weapons, and grabbed Ryou off of the table. He still held the handkerchief in his mouth, preventing him from protesting the warm embrace. The weight of the collar was more than Lettuce could've thought possible; the only way to support the cat's neck while she ran was to press him close to her chest.

_J-just a cat_, she thought, a blush rising. _H-he's just a c-cat_.

"Pudding!"

"Pudding-san!"

"What happened!"

The loudest cries of all were in English, but even those who understood the foreign language could not translate the woman's sobs. She lay before the girl who had risked her life to protect her, and there was nothing she could do to help. Though Aubrie knew that the girl's choice had been neither, that she had accepted a death at any time, it should not be so for a girl so young. One should not so willingly give their life when they had yet to live it; a mistake she would not allow her to make.

"I refuse to let your death come by these terms!" the woman shouted, pulling the girl close to her. The tears from the woman's eyes dripped onto her, and the sobs grew heavy. She could feel it; a faint heartbeat that kept time with her own. Ryou was deposited before the woman; he had understood the words she cried.

_Maybe that uniform suits her after all_, he thought, pressing the cloth into Lettuce's hand before dragging himself to Pudding's side. People moved to make way for him, but Aubrie refused to let the girl go from her arms. She cradled her as one would a baby, the neck supported with the legs in the crook of her arm. From that position the girl's bangs had fallen back.

Aubrie noticed it first, but as she gasped everyone else saw it at once.

Her scar was gone.

* * *

A dark room on a bed in the corner, a young girl was crying as she felt the world descend upon her. The story was true, it had to be true. At the foot of her bed a young woman tried to comfort her, but there was no sense of recognition there. All Pudding could see was the uniform, the red uniform once worn by the person she called "older sister." Ichigo had warned her, she had tried to tell her, but then left it for her to figure out by herself. Some things truly have to be experienced before one knows the true fear, the true betrayal.

Glass shattered against the floor as water spilled, the oldest Mew ran to the young girl's side as she struggled out of bed. This person had betrayed her as well, calling the woman in the red uniform by her name while trying to comfort the injured child. It was not right, it would never be right. Pudding felt a cut form on her hand, but she did not care. With a final cry she demanded to know of the injustice.

No one would answer her; no one would listen to her words. There were no apologies, no feelings; hollow shouts assaulted her ears while deep inside her a voice said quietly, "It's okay." In one final attempt at life, the girl cried out her final question, only to be hushed by the woman holding her. The world was turning, pulling her towards the light where the masquerade continued.

But the truth resided in darkness.

* * *

"Ah, this is cruel," Zakuro said her eyes not even widening as the sparkling shard of glass stuck out from her chest. The world was a twisted place where people were taken away by simple whim. "So very, very…" The woman before Aubrie fell, the grace in her descent almost breathtaking as her hair whipped around to reveal the small child on the floor before her.

"I wasn't talking to you, Zakuro onee-chan," Pudding said, her head tilted as her blank gaze locked onto Aubrie. With a small hop she moved over the fallen Mew, lying still on the ground as blood began to leak out. There was no antidote for that, no magic that could stop the wound from hurting, from taking away precious life. They were only human, after all. Everybody gets hurt, and everybody dies.

But not at the hands of a friend, of a child.

"Please answer me, Aubrie-chan," the little girl said as Aubrie began to back away, fear growing within her. Something was not right; this was not the same child that had saved her life. The girl was not the child who would cry from sadness of losing the people she cared about. What had happened? Was the world so drastic that it could sway a person into insanity in mere hours? Aubrie fell back onto the bed, scrambling to the farthest wall as the question was posed again. "Why are you wearing Ichigo onee-chan's uniform?"

But the woman didn't understand; she didn't know Japanese and the girl didn't know English. Never before had a language barrier meant so much to a situation as it did at that point. With merely the dim light from the hallway Aubrie could only see the miniature silhouette approach her in frozen, jerking movements like a small figure in a music box that bent down to pick up another shard of glass. A tune was playing that controlled the one before her, a melody very few could hear.

The composer meant to kill.

In that moment Aubrie decided that she did not want to die; she refused to accept death on these terms, by the hands of the one she swore to protect. Was this what it felt like, similiar to all those stories on the news where the children had killed their parents? To have one so innocent turned into a cruel fate by some unknown hand?

So she did what one who no longer accepts fate gives in to during those situations.

She screamed in silence as the world listened, feeling the life spill away from her. But she did not scream from fear, or anger; the woman screamed in her ignorance as she grabbed the wrist that left glass in her the soft flesh of her shoulder.

"WHY?"

The little girl looked at her, but no surprise formed as the Japanese shout reached her. It was the only word the woman knew, the only word that had been repeated over and over by those around her. Yet it did nothing to the girl that wrenched the glass deeper into the woman's being, a small smile forming as Aubrie writhed in pain.

"I don't have to give you a reason."

The voice carried the melody of laughter.

* * *

… **There is nothing scary than a small child with an intent to kill.**

**I'm not sure if you all pity her anymore, or what. At this point even I'm kinda…**

**But I love this chapter. There are so many things happening, so many small emotions, small gestures, that mean the world to the outcome. I hope I didn't freak you all out too much. With the fragility I'd placed behind Pudding's character I know her behavior causes a kind of shock to you all. What I love the most is Zakuro's reaction…**

**I love this chapter.**

**So, I'll give you the chance to think about that one, and hopefully I'll be able to update again soon.**

**Well, 'til next time, read and review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Another several months, but I hope you all find the wait to be worth it!**

**Please, before reading, find the song "The Lonely" by Christina Perri to use as a reference. This song appears in the chapter, and I would like for you all to have the full effect by being able to listen to the music.**

**And, without further ado, I present Chapter 32 of "Tears of a Mew Mew." Enjoy!**

* * *

_Listen._

_Do you hear that?_

_Of course you do._

_A sound so familiar._

_Do you remember that time, so long ago?_

_No, of course you don't._

_You can only wish your words were as fresh as blood._

_As tears._

* * *

But the woman did remember something, the sound. But which one was familiar?

A tone, steady yet fierce, erupting in the room.

Buttons pressed one by one.

Distance voices asking questions.

Footsteps walking away with childish glee.

Screams erupting from the depth of a sanctum, of a home.

Sirens in the distance, growing closer with each passing second.

Worried voices growing louder with every question; desperate.

Sighs.

The sound of help.

The sound of defeat.

Which one was familiar?

All of them.

* * *

"_2am, where do I begin,  
Crying off my face again.  
The silent sound of loneliness  
Wants to follow me to bed."_

Who was singing? The lyrics bubbled into her mind like the IV that stuck into another girl's arm. When had it gotten there? Were the paramedics here? She looked down at her hand, and noticed that her own phone was out. Hadn't it been lost in the rubble? But there it was, with the numbers for help glaring up through the blood caked surface.

"_I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most.  
I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well."_

Her own arm had stopped bleeding, but her neck hadn't. It hurt so horribly bad when the girl had cut it, using the same glass used to create the wide gash in her shoulder. And across her wrists. But it didn't hurt anymore.

"_Dancing slowly in an empty room,  
Can the lonely take the place of you?  
I sing myself a quiet lullaby.  
Let you go and let the lonely in  
To take my heart again."_

Help rushed back and forth before her eyes, aiding the girl with the purple hair who had collapsed before her. People in white suits, then stained with red, cried out orders that couldn't be heard above the music. What was that girl's name again? Zakuro, right? The beauty who continued to have all people's eyes glued to her. No one paid the other woman any mind.

"_Too afraid to go inside  
For the pain of one more loveless night.  
But the loneliness will stay with me  
And hold me 'til I fall asleep."_

Where had Pudding gone? The woman tried to turn her head, but found that she couldn't. Everything had gone numb; she couldn't move at all. Even her eye lids refused to close, to give her some aid against the glaring lights she saw before her. Only her ears continued to function, picking up each note of the song.

"_I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most.  
I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well."_

It was warm where the woman sat, warm from the blood that slowed in its way into the open air. There were shadows moving about in the doorway. Was someone crying?

"_Dancing slowly in an empty room,  
Can the lonely take the place of you?  
I sing myself a quiet lullaby.  
Let you go and let the lonely in  
To take my heart again."_

Yes, someone was crying. Someone called out her name, but she could barely hear them through the music. No one paid any mind to it, the silent melody that floated over the destruction before them. Two girls and a man rushed towards her, each cradling wounds of their own. The blood in the room thickened, but she could not see the drops fall to the floor, where they drew from. Still, they were okay. She felt a surge of happiness within her.

"_Broken pieces of  
A barely breathing story  
Where there once was love  
Now there's only me and the lonely."_

But there were tears on their faces as they stared at her, glistening in their bright eyes. She wanted to say that she was alright, but her throat prevented her. The song continued; they wouldn't hear her anyway. Tearful eyes tried to meet her own, but she had no control anymore. Everything was numb… No, wait, her throat hurt; pained, warm, and coated with her own blood.

She was the one singing.

"_Dancing slowly in an empty room,  
Can the lonely take the place of you?  
I sing myself a quiet lullaby.  
Let you go and let the lonely in  
To take my heart again..."_

As the song ended, she felt her lungs exhale deeply. The room was so bright, but she could not block her eyes from the light. There was something dripping down onto her forehead, warm like blood but soft like rain. Something brushed against her hair, delicate like flowers. And then darkness began to slowly descend. Someone was closing her eyes for her, and she silently thanked them.

In the silence of tears Aubrie drifted off to sleep.

* * *

… **I hope you all enjoyed that chapter with a soundtrack. I've always wanted to do one, but couldn't find the occasion. And so we see Aubrie…**

**Hopefully I'll be able to update soon, with something a bit lighter. I have some time that I want to fully invest into making this story the best that I possibly can. Please stay with me along this ride.**

**Thank you very much for reading. ^_^**

**So, 'til next time, read and review!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Hey, guess what…?**

**I have a chapter for you, in a day!**

**More questions to ask, more mysteries to unfold.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Not a soul paid attention to the girl skipping through the streets as the sun sank low above the city. Her laughter did not reach their ears, because she had no place among them. An illusion, a fairy tale; blood ran down her arms and dripped from the tips of her fingers, leaving a trail past darkened windows and bedtime stories. Twisting and turning throughout the streets, she reached her destination, her new home.

Because this was the place where people could laugh at the form of another's death.

This was a cruel place.

Giggling filled the halls as the familiar yellow hair appeared through the open door to the unattended lobby. Only a single person, their brown eyes full of sleep, sat on a plastic chair, waiting. She regarded the girl in the doorway for a moment before standing carefully, so not as to disturb the fragile balance. Yellow eyes met her own, bidding her to move forward.

Ichigo began to walk towards the shadow but slowly accelerated in a run, her red hair flaring underneath the florescent lights. With eyes open wide she took in the sight before her, the blood soaked elementary school child. Hands met either side of the girl's face, her scar replaced by a splatter of blood that slowly dripped down onto the girl's cheeks.

"You were right, Ichigo onee-chan," the girl laughed, her eyes squeezing shut against the bright fluorescent lights, "they really did r-replace us. I was c-childish to think any differently."

Ichigo did not laugh along with the girl; she could feel the cold bite of the night air even inside the apartment building, the chill of the rain that slowly descended to wash away the scars of the day. There was something in the eyes before her that had to be hidden. Worry filled the brown eyes that darted along the girl's face, watching every crease, every twitch, and every movement.

"But we don't need them right? We d-don't need people who will r-replace–"

"Pudding." The voice was so soft, so fragile that the girl allowed her words to drop. Her lips began to quiver, and she could feel herself slowly slump forward. "Pudding, look at me." With a slow shake of the head, the girl refused. It was so hard just to–

"Pudding, please."

A mother's voice, a mother's arms that encircled her as the tears began to leak from beneath her lids. Why did this have to hurt so bad? She asked the older girl over and over, but she was hushed, gentle hands patting her hair. This form encircling her; the warmth was familiar. But why–

And then she remembered. Heavy sobs escaped from her lips as Pudding fully threw herself into Ichigo's arms. She cried out the names of all she had ever loved; Zakuro, Lettuce, Mint, Ryou, Akasaka, and… Aubrie. All injured by her hand, two left to die.

"Why?" the girl whispered, her tears finally wearing her out. Gentle arms lifted her up and carried her into the apartment, where Kish sat quietly at a kitchen golden orbs met Ichigo's wet eyes, and he stood to encircle his arms around the both of them.

Pain would always come before hatred; it was necessary to be able to move forward. Until the day came when the tears would stop, he would protect the one he loved and the girl she chose to carry. Together they would make it through these harsh times and one day rise to glorious heights.

With a warm embrace he carried Ichigo to bed, Pudding still in her arms. A wet cloth took away the blood from Pudding's forehead, and a warm cloth to wipe away their tears. Kissing Ichigo's soft hair, he wished them both goodnight, tucking them in. Both girls fell asleep immediately, but it wasn't long before the nightmares woke the young girl.

"It's all right," Ichigo said to her, drawing her into her arms as she screamed, "you're safe now, you're safe." After some coaxing the girl would drift back into sleep, but Ichigo would stay awake a bit longer, just to feel Kish stroke her hair gently. Before she drifted off each time, he would whisper to her in the darkness.

"I love you."

But she was already gone when he had the nerve to look down into her arms. Disappointment hit his heart twice, but the third time nightmares awoke the pair, the third time he stroked his kitten's hair, he did not get the chance to speak.

With soft hands Ichigo pressed Kish's own against her cheek. Even in the moonlight he could see how much smaller her hands were than his, how much smaller she was. Still, she looked up at him with her brown eyes, and whispered into the night, "I love you."

A shock ran through Kish's heart and left it warm.

"I love you too," he whispered, leaning in so that their lips could meet.

* * *

And somewhere, above all the chaos, above all the cries and raindrops, a sound began to play. Over and over it went, as charming as bells as quiet as floating cherry blossoms. The sound of a phone ringing silently, a tone that sounded once, twice, three times before the caller had to give up to voicemail. It was a phone that had long ago been turned to silent for the quiet halls of a clock tower.

Aubrie was not in possession of her own phone. Yet as they removed the body the paramedics did not know this, and so they tucked it in among her person. A white lace cloth had been placed over her face, a napkin from the café she had only considered home for a single day. But a home was a home, and it was fitting for her last moments.

Akasaka did not know about the phone, and so he watched the body wheeled away on a cart to be taken to the morgue. From there the embassy would deal with it all, but first questions had to be answered, phone calls made. The woman had no known last name; Aubrie had taken part in the only form of international travel that did not require a passport.

A place called a home, yet one surrounded by people who knew nothing about her, and that she knew nothing about. The home of a woman who had not wanted to accept her own time of dying.

But it was far too late.

One ambulance carried the quaking body of one struggling to live, and another the body of one whose struggle had been ended. Yet both could rest; they were in gentle hands. Three people stood at the doorway watching them go, feeling useless as the sun set on an endless day. For two it was the second time night had greeted them in several hours.

Could they sleep? Did they have permission to close their eyes to this cruel world?

Yet the world was not as cruel as it may seem. As the wheels rolled, transporting the ambulance to the hospital, and the cart to the morgue, the world was turning as well. Some wished it to turn quickly so the terrors could finally end, while others wished it to be sluggish in its ways, providing more time to those that so desperately needed it. But the world turned like the wheels of the cart, and the world turned like the wheels within the mind of the caller.

A hidden number, a hidden message on the phone lost to death.

Area code 20.

London, England.

The connection went dead while new life became known. Two simple words whispered into an extended night, towards the stars that watched over those connected by memories.

"I'm coming."

* * *

**And once again Pudding has succumbed to fragility. And the motherly character, one I've been planning for Ichigo for awhile, is shining through. The happy family, broken in ways, but absolutely fitting.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Though I'm not entirely answering questions, I've moving the story forward to where it can progress smoothly without needing things to be constantly answered. Though I do realize that I'm on the thirty-third chapter and the same questions need to be answered from the first, I'm working around to it.**

**Please stay with me for awhile longer. The more questions you ask, the more I'll be able to answer.**

**So, until next time, read and review!**

**Oh, and Happy Fourth of July!**

**3**


	34. Chapter 34

**Yeah… I'm a horrible person and haven't post for three or so months… As my first defense my computer decided to be evil and refused to allow the internet work. So, I got a new computer… Two months ago… Yeah, but it's worth waiting for! (I hope.)**

**In response to KishigoLizzee: No, Ryou didn't really explain everything to Aubrie. All she knew was what she figured out herself, which was essentially that there was a fight between flying people and girls who could transform and look like different animals. She could tell that something was happening between the two groups which led to the destruction of Big Ben. Also, Masaya helped her understand a bit, saying that love was basically what he and Kish were fighting about. I'm sorry that it wasn't very clear to you. Everything makes sense to me in my own head, and I know that the chapters have been spread out recently. Soon I'll do another run-down of things, hopefully making it clearer for you all.**

**Also, if anyone has any questions about the story so far, if something was unclear or you'd enjoy an explanation as to why some things happen, ask it in a review. I'm happy to clear up any confusion, and I'll answer what I can with the questions. Can't exactly ruin the story, now can I?**

**So, without further ado, here's Chapter 34 of "Tears of a Mew Mew"! Enjoy!**

* * *

There once was a time not too long ago, where tears could be shed though smiles remained wide. What happened to those times; were those moments so fragile? Laughter should not come as an obligation or a cover to one's own misery. Mouths she open wide with musical sounds and not screams; mouths should remain closed to receive kisses, not to withhold pain.

And so Kish stole one kiss, and then two, and then three. These times he had yet to know until that very day. Always there had been the days of fear, of hunger, of fighting towards the future. There was no fear then, when he held his beloved in his arms as the sun peaked high over their home together. Hunger was dispelled as she moved into the kitchen to make breakfast, and the apartment was lulled among the sounds of movement and smells of sugar. For that single day there would be no fighting; death was not welcome anymore. Had it ever been?

No, but that had never stopped his hands from committing the crimes.

But not all crimes were his own.

He thought about this while he stole another three kisses. Things would not remain like this forever, but he could wish. Every kiss was a hope, a dream, a wish. Every time his lips touched her, he would ask for one more time where he would be allowed to do it again.

_Please, don't take her away from me_. A silent prayer rose to the rain clouds that dissolved like sugar; fleeting hope. _Please allow us to remain like this for today._

But not all prayers are answered. He knew this as Ichigo turned on the news and she saw her own face highlighted. Missing; the bold label shot worry through her features, worry that thousands of kisses could never take away. Then another photo appeared, one of a woman he had only seen once before; dead. The news caster asked for information about the foreign woman before the picture disappeared. But not before Pudding caught a glimpse of it.

A sob erupted in her throat, and tears built up behind her eyes once more. She still wore the clothes she'd slept in the night before, the ones caked in the blood of the woman in the picture. Ichigo and Kish both knew this, but Ichigo was the one to react first. Running to the girl she pulled her into her arms and walked down the hallway to the small bathroom. The sound of the faucet spewing water covered up the sobs and hushing sounds coming from the pair, and Kish sighed. Had he ever needed to comfort Taruto after someone had died? No, the young alien was too strong to break down over a death by his own hand. But they were raised differently.

Were the humans weak to their eyes simply because they did not know how to kill one another?

That thought quickly left Kish's mind as another picture flashed up on the television screen. A boy with black hair, soft brown eyes, and a kind smile; missing was his attached label. There was something mention of his trip to England, how they were still pulling bodies from the rubble, but before they got into any details Kish turned off the news cast. Ichigo shouldn't see that picture; he refused to let her see that boy's picture ever again.

The times were truly fragile.

What had the other Mews cried at him that day that seemed so long ago? Ah, that was it, a murderer. That single word stung him, because for all the times that label had been placed upon him, this was the only time where it held no truth.

"It's not my fault that boy gave himself the serum," he muttered to himself, leaning back in the chair as the water continued to run down the hall.

* * *

"So, what, are the other Mews not useful to us now that we have the hag and Pudding?" Taruto demanded, spinning around in a chair before the computers. It was not long before that he had watched his young friend burst through the door and attack the café. Now Pai stood before him, running diagnostics on each frame of footage, taken from security cameras in the area. He assessed the girl's use of alternate weapons, such as broken glass and knives, watching energy readings to see if her suppressed powers would stir within her.

"Hey, Pai," Taruto said trying to grab the older aliens attention as he slowed his spins to get a better look at the screen. The older alien continued to ignore him as pictures of different DNA, chemical formulas, and atoms began to rapidly appear across the screen. Everything Taruto didn't understand, and would never be given the opportunity to. Things had progressed faster than they'd imagined in the plans. Not only had they been able to secure the leader of the Mews, but the younger, more vulnerable one as well.

At least that's what Pai assumed Pudding to be anyway; young and useless, a small factor in the Mews' team. Taruto ever wondered if he was seen that way, as a mere distraction among the ranks. For awhile he had only gotten in the way, but he knew he had to earn his worth. That same worth was given to Pudding as the aliens sent down more and more chimeras to assess the Mews' powers. Each and every battle, though the young girl could hold her own against the monsters, the older girls went out of their way to help her. They babied her, making sure that no harm could come to her. Even at the clock tower she had been left behind to avoid getting hurt; to avoid seeing the pain and horror that destruction could bring into the world. She was innocent, and could easily be emotionally compromised.

That was the only requirement to the serum; you had to be so messed up in the head, with so many conflicting emotions, that your body wants something, anything to make sense.

"Pai?" Taruto asked, still wanting an answer. The older alien's hands paused above the computer keys, and he seemed to weigh his words before speaking.

"It is… unfortunate that we have yet to acquire the other Mews. Though they truly are of no use to us aside from experimentation, it would still be valuable to have their bodies in our possession. Especially considering the fact that they escaped death."

With those words the man began typing once more, configuring every action the Mews had made so far. It was a long, boring process, but the only thing they had to do. Two Mews had fallen, one was hospitalized, and two others had escaped death. Still, their leaders were a sad pair; a cat and a man that could barely move without an adrenaline rush. It shouldn't be too long until the aliens could finally make their move.

* * *

Silence.

Everyone wanted to scream, but no one had the heart to. So in the silence they applied bandages, and smeared on disinfectant, and took more showers, and changed into other spare uniforms. The door to the back bedroom had been locked, the blood leaking from beneath the door wiped away. Police were going to use the scene as evidence to a "robbery," but Akasaka refused to press any charges.

The only thing they'd been robbed of was their sanity.

Too much blood had been shed that day, too many tears. No one had volunteered to go guard Zakuro at the hospital, and by the time the topic came up the rain was coming down so hard no one could see anything. Who would drive them anyway?

Someone, no one could recall who, mentioned going to bed. No one moved. They kept their hands clasped tightly around their tea cups, allowing whatever warmth to rush through them, to chase away the pain.

What could they do? They didn't even fully understand what was going on. Obviously their lives, anyone's lives, meant very little. Pudding didn't even flinch when she wielded the knife that cut their arms, legs, and hands. Their friend, the girl many considered to be their little sister, had been turned into a heartless killing machine.

What could they do?

Ryou asked himself that question again and again as he lay there, useless, on the floor as he watched the authorities rush past. He'd been on the table, but in the struggle it had been hit, forcing him to the floor. The handkerchief was clutched tightly in his mouth. The computers were back online, but after what had happened… Could he ask these girls to go back into battle?

And so they sat there in the silence.

Until a lone voice spoke up.

"I keep asking myself why we never went after Pudding." Lettuce's voice drew their gaze, and her clear green eyes captivated them all. "Have we all accepted that this situation is beyond hope? Because she was laughing as she hurt us? Because she killed Aubrie?" Her eyes demanded the questions, but no one spoke up. No one had the nerve to speak, not even Mint who had been silent in her opinions for hours.

Lettuce pushed back her chair from the table, leaving her tea cup rattling in its saucer. Before anyone could process what she was doing, the girl raised her arms above her head and shouted, "Mew Mew Lettuce, METAMORPHO-SIS!"

In a flash of green light the girl stood there before them, weapons at the ready, and eyes set towards the horizon.

"I'm not going to lose hope."

Another silence fell down around them, but it was because everyone was too stunned to say a word.

"Mew Mew Minto, METAMORPHO-SIS!"

A flash of blue light revealed Mint's returned smile, her eyes fixed on Lettuce. With a defiant voice she said, "You didn't think the fight would end here, did you?"

* * *

_Listen._

_Do you hear it?_

_Do you remember?_

_Of course you don't._

_Those words from so long ago have yet to return._

_So you must not go._

_Not now._

_The fight has yet to be finished._

* * *

**Before I was asking myself how I couldn't have answered some things by now, especially now that I'm on Chapter 34. Well, I realized why. I was giving a single chapter of this story in, at the most, 800 words. Since I've started updating again my chapters have gotten longer and longer; this one right here clears 2,000 words. Of course that's with my comments added in, but I consider it to be part of the chapter…**

**So, I hope you all enjoyed being able to look in on everyone. From now on I'll try to keep up this format so there won't be any questions as to who's doing what at what time. And, again, if you have any questions, put them in your reviews! Sometimes I don't realize that I STILL haven't answered something, and you're the readers, so make as many demands as you want. I'll do what I can.**

**Happy (early) Halloween! (In case I don't post again before then.)**

**Well, until next time, read and review!**


	35. Chapter 35

So many people run through life asking themselves who they are… Yet that question only arises when others pose it. You know exactly who you are, down to the last thought, until someone else comes into your life. Then you have to hide things, things you're afraid they'll reject you for. And you begin to run from everything you've ever known. One day you'll look in the mirror and ask yourself, 'Who am I?' You won't know, of course, because it was all lost somewhere.

In a book once, there was mention of a society that had been destroyed. All was laid out before them and they couldn't find themselves. And one, who was no more wise than the others, stood there and said that they did not have to rebuild the houses. No, the first thing they were going to build was a mirror factory.

Mirrors are our destruction, as well as our salvation.

And she could remember a mirror that she had seen once. A reflecting surface, a mirror that in itself was a sculpture meant to show you something other than yourself. Standing before it, the mirror curved so that her feet were reflected at the top while her face was captured in the bottom. In between, her body was stretched and distorted. She could not make out her clothes, but a mass of color and shapes that only became more jumbled as she walked closer.

Twice she saw this mirror, the first time being too scared to move closer towards her broken self. Then months later she was back, standing before the sculpture once more. And this time she dared walk closer, allowing herself to become ugly and distorted. There was a crevice in the mirror, just large enough for her to stand. She said some useless words, calling out to another she could no longer see, and her voice echoed back. And then, she could see something, a clearing in all that was shattered. Leaning in she pressed her face so close to the surface her nose was almost touching. And out of all the breaks she could see one clear, defined image.

Her own two eyes staring back at her.

Once more she went back to see this mirror, but it had been removed. Yet, she didn't need it anymore. She only had to define herself off of everything she knew. Her soul, not what others saw. Not what others tried to make her.

And it was this image of looking into her own eyes that bubbled to the surface as she opened her lids and gazed upwards. White lace filled her vision, kissing her face as lightly as sunlight. She was very aware of herself, of her hands that twitched in delight, her legs that itched to move. Her heart beat in her chest, flushing her skin with crimson warmth.

Sitting up, the cloth fell away from her face, fluttering down to cover the tear in another's clothing. A smile lit up her face as she realized that she was not alone. There was a small child standing before her at the edge of the cart. Bangs and curls framed the eyes so familiar, the lips and cheeks rosy. A sheer nightgown encompassed her body, the light of the room passing through as though she were a ghost.

_You remembered_.

The woman smiled warmly, nodding. Bouncing in glee, the girl's bangs rose up from her forehead, revealing a hole just above her right eye. And behind the girl stood a woman, one so familiar. She said nothing, but smiled gently, and apology for not realizing sooner. The dark stain on her stomach was apparent in the uniform she wore, but she did not cover it. She felt no pain.

_Do I need to go now?_

The woman thought this, looking at the images before her. Both of them nodded, and she set her eyes forward with determination, swinging her legs over the edge of the cart to stand.

At first she was unsteady, a rush of blood flowing to her head. Almost instinctively she put her hand around her stomach, feeling the caked and crusted blood there. Yet it didn't hurt. Pulling her hand away she looked up, standing strong.

The small child smiled at her, warning her without saying a word.

_Don't forget._

Aubrie opened her mouth, her lips pulling into a smile.

"I will never forget."

* * *

**The next chapter, oh so long in the making. Today I wrote, I truly wrote, for the first time in such a long time. My mind was forced into a box where creative thinking, unrealistic thinking, was not allowed. I was to be a scholar, I was to do what others expected and exceed those expectations in everything.**

**And yet I did not want to, not like that.**

**I went home and my thought one day was that they had ruined me. I became someone else, and when I got back I realized I lost something. And so, I present to you all the mirror I found myself in front of. It is an actual sculpture out there, and it holds more meaning to me than any of you will ever know.**

**And so I bring you this first part of my true writing, and hope that you will accept it as enough for now. It's not that amazing, and I know I can do better, but I have left you all long enough.**

**So, until the next time piano music pumps through my speakers and I am inspired beyond all belief, read and review.**

**I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^**


End file.
